1、Formally entering Italy

The domestic new energy vehicle brand, Xiaopeng Motors, has expanded its business to Italy this time.

At this year's Milan Design Week, Xiaopeng Motors announced its official entry into the Italian market. It launched the world's first AI car, Xiaopeng P7+, Huitian Traveler X2 flying car, and other hardcore products, as well as pedestrian robots. It became one of the first Chinese new force car companies to participate in the event and the only Chinese brand to appear at the core venue ADI Design Museum.

Xiaopeng Motors Landing in Milan Design Week Source: Xiaopeng Motors

During a live video speech, Gu Hongdi, Chairman and President of Xiaopeng Motors, stated, "We believe that the combination of AI, software, and hardware will create the most advanced automotive products, which will surely be loved worldwide.

The reason for choosing to enter the Italian market is due to careful consideration.

From the perspective of the Italian market, the local government is striving to achieve an annual production capacity of 1.3 million new energy vehicles by the end of this year through incentive policies such as tax incentives and investment in charging infrastructure. At the same time, the market is accelerating its electrification transformation, with a year-on-year surge of 59.6% in sales of new energy vehicles in the first two months of this year. The market share has exceeded 7.2%.

From the strategic layout of Xiaopeng Motors, this is a crucial step in its global expansion.

Previously, Xiaopeng Motors had achieved certain results in the southern European market, such as the Xiaopeng G6 breaking the European charging record and winning the Carwow "Best Technology Car" award in Spain; The Xiaopeng G9 won the "Jury Favorite Model" award at the 2024 Automobile Awards in France; Xiaopeng has been awarded the title of "Technology Pioneer" in Denmark for two consecutive years.

Xiaopeng G6 Award Source: Xiaopeng Motors

With the inclusion of the Italian market in the commercial landscape, Xiaopeng Motors has almost covered the entire southern European market and successfully entered more than ten European countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France. Previously, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, once said, 'Europe is the most important new energy market outside of China.'.

In fact, Xiaopeng Motors has been accelerating its overseas expansion in recent times. In March of this year, Xiaopeng Motors officially announced its entry into the markets of Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Its P7 sedan, G6 SUV coupe, and G9 large SUV models will officially start sales in the second quarter of this year.

Xiaopeng Motors enters the Polish market. Source: Xiaopeng Motors

It is worth mentioning that Xiaopeng Motors' globalization strategy is not limited to the European market. According to Xiaopeng's plan, it aims to enter 60 countries and regions around the world, such as Malaysia and Qatar, by 2025. By 2027, it aims to target the top three global new energy exports, and by 2033, half of its sales will come from overseas.

2、Domestic cars flock to sea

Not only Xiaopeng Motors, but an undeniable trend is that in recent years, domestic new energy vehicles have formed a huge and complete industrial chain. Many brands have made significant breakthroughs in battery technology, motor systems, intelligent networking, and other areas. With these advantages, they have gone abroad and shone on the international stage.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the annual export volume of new energy vehicles in China will exceed 1.2 million units in 2023, a year-on-year increase of over 77%; According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the export volume of electric vehicles for the whole year of 2024 exceeded 2 million units.

In 2023, China's new energy vehicle exports will exceed 1.2 million units. Source: China.com

By 2025, this growth trend will continue. In the hot demand European market, domestic new energy vehicles have gone crazy. According to the latest survey by market research firm JATO Dynamics, in February this year, Chinese electric vehicle brands registered 19800 vehicles in Europe, surpassing Tesla's 15700 vehicles.

Behind a series of impressive data is the joint effort of multiple domestic car brands.

For example, BYD, a benchmark domestic new energy vehicle company, has already gained a certain market share in multiple overseas markets such as Europe, Brazil, South Korea, and Singapore. Take Brazil as an example, BYD's sales in Brazil surged 290% in the first 11 months of last year. In November, BYD made it into the top ten of Brazil's best-selling car brands.

BYD rises to ninth best-selling brand in Brazil. Source: Yiche

It is reported that BYD is determined to sell 5.5 million cars this year, of which 800000 will be sold in overseas markets. The expected growth rate of its overseas business will directly reach 91.8%, indicating its ambition to expand its overseas business.

In addition, the emerging Xiaomi car is also accelerating its overseas plan. At the end of last year, Xiaomi added a preparatory group for overseas sales business, recruiting multiple positions including market research, project management, and electric vehicle after-sales engineers; In the automotive department, in order to address issues such as overseas regulatory verification of autonomous driving functions, the autonomous driving department has also added multiple positions specifically for overseas markets.

Xiaomi SU7 on the streets of Paris Source: Lei Jun's Weibo

In addition to BYD and Xiaomi, many domestic new energy vehicle brands such as Chery, NIO, and Geely are accelerating their overseas expansion. For brands, seeking greater incremental space in overseas markets has become a consensus. With more and more domestic car brands entering the international market, China's electric vehicle industry will continue to develop and its influence will continue to increase.

However, opportunities often coexist with challenges, and there are also many tricky problems in the process of new energy vehicles going global, such as trade barriers, localization of supply chains, and weak brand awareness. We believe that domestic brands will come up with more effective countermeasures.