Faster than Tesla

Xpeng Motors (XPEV), a Chinese electric car startup, has reached the milestone of 100,000 cars produced in six years twice as fast as market leader Tesla. Xpeng models are cheaper than their Tesla counterparts, while still receiving high ratings and safety ratings.

Chinese automaker Xpeng (XPEV), which is listed on the NYSE, on Monday said it had reached a "milestone" of producing 100,000 electric cars at its Zhaoqing Xiaopeng Automobile plant.

Xpeng shares, down 12% YTD, were up 1.17% at Monday's premarket.

Importantly, Xpeng announced plans back in August to double its production capacity from 100,000 to 200,000 electric cars a year to increase competition with Li Auto (LI), Nio (NIO) and Tesla (TSLA) in China. The Chinese electric-car startup is indeed managing to ramp up production and supply rates rapidly, despite a global shortage of chips and other negative factors.

In August, XPeng executives noted that the company's electric car shipments in the first half of 2021 exceeded its total shipments for the full year 2020, reaching 30,738, a 459% increase over the previous year. In the third quarter of 2021, Xpeng delivered 25,666 cars, up 199% year-on-year.

If we compare XPeng's production ramp-up rate with that of industry leader Tesla (TSLA) the Chinese manufacturer has reached the milestone of 100,000 cars in half the time. It has taken Elon Musk's company 12 years since production began in 2003 to reach the 100,000-vehicle mark.

Today, Tesla is expanding its production capacity with new plants in Shanghai and Berlin.

XPeng has only one plant at its disposal, but the company has already made its first sales to foreign markets Norway in particular. The first batches (100 and 200 units) of XPeng Motor G3 electric SUVs were shipped in December 2020 and February 2021.

This spring XPeng unveiled a potential Tesla 'killer' its new P5 sedan with an enhanced autopilot system and LIDAR sensors for autonomous driving on city roads.

Last month, the company announced the Xpeng P5's price range depending on the version it will be between $24,484 and $34,717 and that's below the current Tesla Model 3 price in China.