The new P7 has been on the market and is selling well, but sales volume is no longer XPeng's biggest problem.

On August 27, the all-new XPeng P7 was launched, with a total of four models introduced, starting at 219,800 yuan. Just 7 minutes after sales began, the number of orders for the XPeng P7 exceeded 10,000.

During a media interview after the press conference, He Xiaopeng, the Chairman and CEO of XPeng Motors, didn't mention the order figures much. This is quite different from the situation when the MONA M03 and XPeng P7+ were launched.

For XPeng Motors, whose sales are steadily increasing, the initial sales performance of a new car is no longer as exciting. In the first half of this year, XPeng Motors delivered 197,200 new cars, surpassing last year's delivery volume. In July, XPeng delivered 36,717 vehicles, getting very close to the monthly delivery target of 40,000.

However, the problem for XPeng Motors is no longer about sales volume. The most urgent task is to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of this year, which He Xiaopeng clearly stated at the Q2 earnings conference in August. Secondly, the current sales growth of XPeng Motors is mainly driven by the MONA series, G7, and P7 series (including the P7+ and the newly launched P7). Flagship models like the G9 and X9 are relatively quiet in the high - end market. In the long run, if XPeng Motors launches too many new products in the market below 300,000 yuan, it will have to continuously introduce new products and sacrifice price for volume.

Compared to He Xiaopeng's excited display of the initial sales performance of the MONA M03 during an interview on August 27 last year, He Xiaopeng is now much calmer. For XPeng Motors, "surviving" is still an issue, and "thriving" is the next challenge.

The All - new P7: Solving Old Problems and Stabilizing Sales

As an upgraded version of the P7 and P7i, the all - new XPeng P7 showcases XPeng Motors' progress in styling design, chassis performance, and interior space.

The first - generation XPeng P7 was launched in 2020. At that time, XPeng Motors regarded Tesla as a competitor, so the P7 was also seen as a rival to the Tesla Model 3.

Sales proved the success of the P7. In 2021, XPeng Motors became the sales champion among new car - making forces. Among the 98,000 vehicles sold, the XPeng P7 contributed 62%. In March 2022, the sales of the XPeng P7 exceeded 9,000, setting a new high.

As a coupe product, the interior space of the XPeng P7 was most criticized, especially the rear seats. After that, XPeng Motors was slow in upgrading the P7, and its monthly sales even dropped to just over a hundred vehicles. The XPeng G9 and XPeng G6 also failed to succeed as expected, resulting in a long - term slump in XPeng Motors' sales.

He Xiaopeng spent a relatively large amount of time talking about the improvements in the interior space of the all - new XPeng P7. For example, the backrest angle of the second - row seats in the P7 reaches 30 degrees, the trunk volume has been upgraded to 575L, the front passenger seat can be equipped with a zero - gravity seat, and there are 33 storage spaces inside the car, greatly improving comfort.

Performance and handling are also the main highlights of the all - new XPeng P7. He Xiaopeng spared no praise: "The P7 is my favorite test - drive car recently. I like it so much that I'm even reluctant to use the assisted driving system because it would reduce the time for me to experience the driving and handling performance of the all - new P7."

The chassis architecture of the P7 integrates AI intelligence. All models are standard - equipped with dual - chamber air springs and DCC intelligent damping. The front - narrow and rear - wide tires provide solid grip. The self - developed 800V XPower electric drive system and the motor power of the four - wheel - drive performance version can reach up to 437kW, combining comfort, handling, and performance.

On Lei Jun's advice, He Xiaopeng decided to conduct a 24 - hour endurance test on the P7. The final result was 3,961 km, exceeding the 3,944 km of the Xiaomi YU7. He Xiaopeng was almost involved in the whole process of this endurance test, including the pre - test meetings, preparations, and the dynamics during the test.

Like Lei Jun, He Xiaopeng also put the all - new XPeng P7 on the race track. Just as Lei Jun used the term "the fastest four - door production car", He Xiaopeng also gave the XPeng P7 the title of "the fastest coupe under 500,000 yuan at the Zhejiang International Circuit" for its performance at the circuit.

With a stack of configurations such as 5C super - charging AI batteries, Brembo four - piston calipers, three self - developed Turing chips with an effective computing power of 2,250 TOPS, an 87 - inch AR - HUD, a three - axis flexible screen, and 20 - inch wheels, the all - new XPeng P7 starts at 219,800 yuan, not much lower than the 229,900 yuan of the first - generation XPeng P7. However, it has more abundant configurations, more outstanding styling, and solves the pain points of the previous models. So, it's quite natural that it received 10,000 orders in 7 minutes after its launch.

He Xiaopeng said in an interview after the launch of the all - new P7 that this year is a big year for XPeng Motors in terms of model upgrades. Before the P7, the upgraded versions of the XPeng G6 and G9 had already been launched. With the upgraded P7 and the upcoming range - extended X9, XPeng Motors will complete the upgrades of its main models on sale this year, and the all - new P7 will be the sales leader.

He Xiaopeng didn't mention the specific sales target for the all - new P7, but the goal is to enter the top three in the sales of pure - electric sedans. This goal is not difficult to achieve. According to the data statistics of third - party institutions, among pure - electric sedans in the same class as the XPeng P7, the sales of the Xiaomi SU7 and Tesla Model 3 are far ahead. The sales of the XPeng P7+ are about half of the latter, ranking third, with an average monthly sales of over 7,000 this year. This means that the XPeng P7 in the same class may have an impact on the sales of the XPeng P7+.

The All - new P7 Can't Solve the Problems of High - end Deficiency and Low Average Selling Price

In the first seven months of this year, XPeng Motors delivered 233,900 new cars, with an average monthly delivery of 33,415 vehicles. In July, XPeng Motors' delivery volume was 36,717, with only a 6% month - on - month increase.

XPeng Motors has achieved a monthly delivery volume of over 30,000 for 9 consecutive months. However, it also means that the marginal benefit of new cars on sales volume is decreasing. Among the 7 models on sale at XPeng Motors, including the all - new P7, 5 were launched this year, and only the MONA M03 and XPeng P7+ were launched last year.

In November last year, the XPeng P7+ was launched, and XPeng Motors' delivery volume reached 30,000 that month. Before the launch of the all - new P7, 4 new models, including the newly launched G7, failed to help XPeng Motors break through the monthly delivery mark of 40,000.

And this figure is the basis for XPeng Motors to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of this year. "With the delivery of the all - new XPeng P7, our goal is to steadily exceed 40,000 in monthly delivery starting from September this year," He Xiaopeng said at the Q2 earnings conference call.

Moreover, as XPeng Motors' sales volume increases and it achieved a record - high gross profit margin in the second quarter, the average selling price per vehicle has dropped significantly, which may have a negative impact on XPeng Motors' efforts in high - end positioning.

The Q2 financial report shows that XPeng Motors delivered 197,189 vehicles in the first half of this year, a significant increase of 279%. However, the revenue from vehicle sales was only 31.25 billion yuan, with a growth rate of only 152.8% compared to the same period in 2024.

In the first half of this year, the average revenue per new car sold by XPeng Motors was 158,500 yuan. In the same period last year, this figure was 237,600 yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 33.3%. However, XPeng's gross profit margin for vehicles (the percentage of gross profit from vehicle sales to vehicle sales revenue) was 6.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

The significant drop in the average selling price per vehicle is mainly because XPeng Motors' sales are more driven by low - priced models, mainly the XPeng MONA M03. According to XPeng Motors' data, as of July this year, 150,000 units of the XPeng MONA M03 have been delivered, and the monthly delivery has exceeded 10,000 for 11 consecutive months since its launch. In January this year, the M03 even contributed more than half of XPeng Motors' monthly sales. After subsidies, the minimum price of this car is less than 100,000 yuan.

In addition, the starting prices of the upgraded models launched this year, such as the 2025 XPeng G6 and G9, are lower than their previous - generation models. XPeng Motors explained that this is due to configuration optimization and SKU simplification, but the end result is a lower price and a higher gross profit margin. The starting price of the XPeng P7 is only 219,800 yuan, in the same market as the XPeng P7+, and it's still difficult to drive up the average selling price per vehicle.

On the other hand, as the only model of XPeng Motors with an average selling price above 300,000 yuan, the performance of the XPeng X9 is not as good as last year. In the first seven months of this year, the XPeng X9 has only delivered less than 10,000 units, less than a quarter of last year's total.

"From 2026 to 2027 will be a big product year for XPeng Motors. The new products will cover different price ranges from over 100,000 yuan to under 2 million yuan, including full - size SUVs," He Xiaopeng said in an interview after the launch of the P7. However, for XPeng Motors, which is used to driving sales with low - priced products, how to gain the recognition of high - end market users is one of the challenges it faces in "thriving".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Power Plant", author: Hua Zijian. Republished by 36Kr with permission.