New autopilot

Xpeng Motors is stepping up competition in China's electric car market with its new P5 sedan, which gets an improved autopilot and LIDAR sensor system for autonomous driving on city roads. In addition to improved technology, Xpeng is winning back market share with low prices.

Chinese electric car maker Xpeng Motors (XPEV) on Wednesday unveiled its new P5 sedan with an advanced autopilot system with autonomous driving capabilities in urban environments.

It is the company's third electric vehicle, with Xpeng also offering its customers the XPeng G3 SUV with a range of up to 520km on a full charge and the XPeng P7 sedan with a maximum range of 706km.

Xpeng did not disclose details of the specifications of the P5 and the electric car's battery, as well as the pricing of the model depending on the specification. All this will be announced on April 19 at the Auto Shanghai 2021 show. At the same time, according to media reports, the Xpeng P5 will have a range of around 600km. Xpeng Motors, which went public on the NYSE last August, is looking to ramp up its production and capture a bigger share of the fast-growing electric car market in China. Amid pent-up demand in 2020, an economic recovery and government incentives and incentives for buyers, all electric car makers in China, including larger rivals Xpeng Tesla (TSLA), Nio (NIO) and BYD, as well as smaller competitor Li Auto (LI), reported strong growth in shipments in the first quarter of 2021. According to research firm Canalys, 1.9 million electric vehicles will be sold in China in 2021, 51% more than in 2020.

Xpeng said the P5 on-board computer features the Xmart OS 3.0 system using Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon SA8155P (QCOM) chip, giving greater control capabilities with a voice assistant in the car.

Shares of Xpeng Motors are performing weakly despite the company's first quarter 2021 delivery figures rising 29% to 13,340 units from the previous fourth quarter and up 487% from the first quarter of last year.

Xpeng shares have risen 65.4% over the past half year, but are down 23.2% since the start of 2021. Xpeng shares closed down 7.3% on Wednesday.