XPENG aims to launch a mass-production–ready humanoid robot by 2026

Chinese electric vehicle company XPENG recently announced Q1 2025 results, alongside exciting plans for new vehicle launches and a bold push into robotics.

XPENG recently entered the Australian market with it’s G6 available now and two more vehicles on the way, the the G9 SUV soon to be released 7-seater X9 people mover.

In April, XPENG’s humanoid robot IRON made its debut at the Auto Shanghai show, impressing attendees with its advanced capabilities in voice interaction, walking, and fine motor control, including highly dexterous finger movements.

Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng noted that the current IRON is merely the previous-generation prototype. Next, the XPENG Turing AI chip, which is set for mass production in AI vehicles, will also be deployed in the IRON robot — significantly enhancing its on-device computing power.

It seems we’re now seeing a bit of a trend with Tesla, Xpeng and a number of other new automakers extending their AI skills to new form factors, specifically the massive opportunity that is humanoid robots.

The large model powering the IRON robot will bypass transitional architectures commonly seen in the industry and directly adopt XPENG’s VLA architecture, which is consistent with the Company’s world-class foundation model.

Training will also leverage XPENG’s shared cloud-based AI infrastructure. Together, these innovations are expected to greatly elevate the intelligence ceiling of XPENG’s humanoid robots. In the humanoid robotics domain, XPENG aims to launch a mass-production–ready humanoid robot by 2026, achieving industry-leading levels of intelligence and leveraging production-scale data to drive its rapid evolution.

“This will be a milestone in democratizing AI in the automotive industry. It will disrupt the current norm where urban intelligent driving features are only available in high-end, top-trim models — and showcase China’s leadership in physical-world AI innovation to the world.”

-He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO, XPENG.

Announcing a robot and even showing a prototype is a good start, but the industry is moving fast, Xpeng will need to progress rapidly to catch up. The opportunity is massive, if you can create capable hardware, an intelligent brain that’s easy to train and deliver the package at an affordable price.

In the business application, economics are critical, including aspects like downtime for charging. In the home, affordability and safety are imperative, so first manufacturers must decide on which area to focus and understand this is a race to mass adoption.

Given humanoid robots haven’t walked among us (yet), there’s a real chance there could be a name brand established.. and people think of brand X if they get to market early and can scale production and reduce costs.

XPENG reported quarterly revenue of RMB 15.81 billion, representing a 141.5% year-over-year increase. Total vehicle deliveries reached 94,008 units, setting a new quarterly record and marking a 330.8% year-over-year growth.

Gross margin reached 15.6%, up 2.7 percentage points year-over-year, hitting an all-time quarterly high. Vehicle gross margin rose to 10.5%, an improvement of 5 percentage points year-over-year, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of growth. Net loss narrowed further to RMB 660 million.

As of the end of Q1, XPENG held RMB 45.28 billion (US$6.24 billion) in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments — representing a quarter-over-quarter increase of over RMB 3.33 billion.

For the second quarter of 2025, XPENG expects total deliveries to reach between 102,000 and 108,000 units, representing a year-over-year increase of 237.7% to 257.5%. Total revenue is expected to range from RMB 17.5 billion to RMB 18.7 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 115.7% to 130.5%.

The financial results show that XPENG significantly narrowed its net loss quarter-over-quarter in Q1, while generating over RMB 3 billion in positive free cash flow — a clear sign of the company’s improving self-sufficiency and internal cash generation capability.

For more information, head to https://www.heyxpeng.com/