Chinese EV company Xpeng shares surge 13% after forecasting...

Chinese EV company Xpeng shares surge 13% after forecasting growth in car deliveries

Chinese electric car company Xpeng saw its shares soar after reporting an improvement in profit margin and an upbeat outlook for second-quarter deliveries.Xpeng reported that vehicle margin rose 5.5% in the first three months of the year, from a negative 2.5% in the prior quarter. Vehicle margin is a measure of profitability.The company forecast deliveries of 29,000 to 32,000 cars in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of at least 25%.

Similar to other companies looking to stay competitive in China’s electric car market, Xpeng is expanding its product lineup with a lower-cost vehicle brand called Mona.The first Mona car — an electric sedan below 200,000 yuan ($27,890) — is set for release in June and scheduled to begin mass deliveries in the third quarter, according to the company.Xpeng attributed several hundred million yuan in services revenue to its partnership with German automaker Volkswagen. The services segment overall surged by 93.1% year-on-year to 1 billion yuan in the first quarter.The Chinese company said that in the first half of this year it is establishing partnerships with auto dealership groups in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Australia to open new stores. In all, Xpeng said it plans to expand its sales network to more than 20 countries. That’s according to a first quarter earnings call transcript from FactSet.