Xpeng CEO eyes US launch, suggests company could build plants in America

Xpeng makes some interesting vehicles and the company delivered 103,295 of them in the first six months of the year. While the brand is growing in Europe, they have even bigger ambitions as they’re eyeing a U.S. launch.

In an interview with WardsAuto, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said “America will be one of the most important markets that we have to enter because it will help us to grow better.” That’s hardly surprising as Americans typically buy around 16 million new vehicles annually.

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Chinese automakers have been eyeing a U.S. launch for decades, but the closest we’ve gotten is Polestar. We all know how that worked out and the political climate is unlikely to change under the Trump administration.

However, Xiaopeng hopes the situation changes in the future. As he explained, “I think that if the U.S. policy allows for companies like us to stay or enter the market and build factories there, definitely we’ll embrace that decision.”

That’s interesting to note as Trump has seemingly flip flopped on his Chinese car stance. Earlier this year, he said “If they want to come in and build the plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great.  I love that. Let China come in.” Polestar did exactly that and still got banned, while Volvos – which are built in the same plant – got the greenlight.

That being said, banning Chinese vehicles is one of the few things that Democrats and Republicans can agree upon. This makes an American launch a long shot, at least for the foreseeable future.

While the United States is currently off limits, Xpeng’s Canadian launch will be a good trial run. The company’s head of international development and service, Alex Tang, said they need to “evaluate and plan” to enter Canada as they want a “long-term strategy to be there as a long-term brand.”