XPeng CEO Warns of Suspended Production if Lockdowns Persist
Amid ongoing pandemic containment efforts, car companies in China are facing supply chain problems. He Xiaopeng, CEO of electric vehicle maker XPeng, made the following comment on Thursday: “Automakers in China may have to suspend production in May if suppliers in Shanghai and surrounding areas are not able to resume work.”
“The good news is that some local government departments are doing their best to coordinate,” He added.
XPeng Motors delivered 15,414 units in March, up 202% year-on-year. In the first quarter, the cumulative delivery volume reached 34,561 units, 2.6 times that of the same period last year. At present, the EV maker has one self-built factory in China’s southern Guangdong province, and two more under construction. However, due to the concentration of a large number of core suppliers in eastern China, even factories in Guangdong cannot avoid the influence of broken supply chains.
Since March, many automobile factories in Shanghai and Jilin have been shut down due to the pandemic. On Wednesday, the TANK brand of Great Wall Motor announced that due to pandemic control measures, eight suppliers of the TANK 300 model have stopped operation, leading to the halting of model production from Thursday.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association, said earlier that national automobile output will be decreased by 20% due to the pandemic, and there is still great uncertainty in the future.
A few days after announcing the suspension of vehicle production at its plant in Hefei, NIO, a competitor of XPeng, is reported to be preparing to gradually resume production. As for future production plans, it depends on how the supply chain recovers.
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