XPeng has also started integration, downsizing its 4 product lines to 2 | 36Kr Exclusive

36Kr learned from multiple industry insiders that XPeng Motors recently restructured its product lines. Previously, XPeng had four product lines labeled F, D, I and G, but going forward, only the G and D product lines will remain, with the I and F lines fully integrated into the G product line.

Previously, the G product line was mainly responsible for large SUVs including XPeng GX and G9L, the F product line mainly produced sedans under XPeng's P series, the D product line covered the MONA series of models, and the I product line was in charge of XPeng's overseas products. At present, the MONA series still belongs to the D product line, and all other products have been merged into the G product line.

The MONA series is positioned in the 100,000-150,000 RMB market segment, which has long been the core sales pillar of XPeng, contributing more than 1/3 of XPeng's total sales from January to August this year. XPeng GX is the key model for XPeng's brand premium drive this year. Official data from XPeng shows that the cumulative delivery volume of XPeng GX has exceeded 20,000 units since its launch at the end of May this year up to August 31.

Along with the product line downsizing, there are also personnel adjustments. Industry sources close to XPeng told 36Kr that the former top leader of the F product line remains at the same rank, and is now responsible for product definition of the G product line. The former head of the I product line now takes charge of XPeng Motors' overseas affairs, excluding the sales of overseas models.

XPeng's product lines are tasked with functions including product definition and R&D. By downsizing the four product lines to two, XPeng will make R&D resources more concentrated to a certain extent, so as to drive cost reduction, and further avoid internal competition on positioning and pricing between different products.

Since the start of this year, domestic automotive brands have generally been facing the dilemma of sluggish sales growth and cost pressure brought by rising raw material prices. Even brands with large fan bases in the tech circle, such as AITO and Xiaomi, have failed to avoid turning from profit to loss, and most likely will not be able to hit the sales targets set last year.

The same applies to XPeng.

In the first quarter of this year, XPeng launched the all-electric and extended-range versions of XPeng P7+, the super extended-range version of XPeng G7, the all-electric version of XPeng X9, and rolled out the all-electric and extended-range versions of XPeng GX in May. Meanwhile, facelifted models including XPeng G6, G9 and MONA M03 have all been launched on the market.

That means XPeng has a more extensive product portfolio in 2026, but its sales volume since the start of this year has not seen significant growth compared with the same period last year.

In the first quarter of this year, affected by the iteration of its core models, XPeng's sales volume dropped from 94,000 units in the same period last year to 62,700 units in the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter, XPeng sold 103,300 units, almost the same as the 103,200 units recorded in the same period last year. At the recent earnings meeting, XPeng set its sales guidance for the third quarter of this year at 115,000 to 121,000 units, showing no notable increase compared with the 116,000 units sold in the third quarter last year.

This will inevitably lead to a problem: R&D investment has increased, but the returns fall short of expectations. Downsizing product lines to improve resource utilization efficiency is exactly XPeng's response to this problem.

The necessity for XPeng to integrate its resources can also be seen from its financial reports.

On August 24, XPeng released its second-quarter financial report. In the second quarter, XPeng still remained loss-making, but the good news is that its loss has narrowed from 1.7 billion RMB in the first quarter to 1.3 billion RMB.

Compared with the loss amount, a more noteworthy indicator is the gross margin of complete vehicles. In the second quarter, XPeng's vehicle gross margin stood at 12.1%, roughly the same as that in the first quarter of this year, but lower than that in the same period last year. XPeng's overall gross margin reached 20.7% in the second quarter, which was mainly supported by its high-margin technical service business.

This is on one hand affected by the rising raw material prices across the industrial chain this year, and on the other hand, may also be attributed to the fact that the MONA M03, with a starting price of less than 120,000 RMB, accounted for the majority of XPeng's second-quarter sales. Public statistics show that among the more than 100,000 units XPeng sold in the second quarter, MONA M03 contributed around 40% of the total.

The rapid sales growth of low-end models has dragged down XPeng's vehicle gross margin, while mid-to-high end products such as XPeng GX still need long-term market validation. For XPeng, downsizing product lines and focusing resources is undoubtedly an effective way to improve the gross margin of its automotive business. Just like at the end of last year, Li Auto also merged its first product line and second product line to address the problems of overlapping functions and fragmented decision-making that emerged during the independent operation of separate product lines.

Improving efficiency through integration has also been proven effective by other automakers such as Geely.

The biggest integration move of Geely Group last year was the privatization of Zeekr Group. In the first half of this year, Geely Group's year-on-year sales growth reached 1%, and its net profit increased by 46% year on year, which to some extent reflects the release of synergy effects. NIO Group also merged the R&D and sales system of its Ledeao product line into all NIO clusters last year.

XPeng's current restructuring of its product lines may well become the starting point for improving its financial indicators.

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