XPeng Inc.
XPEV,
said Wednesday that it expects its fourth-quarter vehicle deliveries to decline as much as 52% as the Chinese electric-car maker reported a wider loss for the third quarter.
XPeng posted net loss of 2.38 billion yuan ($332.4 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a CNY1.59 billion loss a year earlier. The result is partly due to higher research and development expenses, which rose 19% to CNY1.50 billion, mainly resulting from increased employee compensation, it said.
Revenue for the period rose 19% to CNY6.82 billion, with vehicle sales increasing 14% to CNY6.24 billion, it said.
Gross margin fell 0.9 percentage point to 13.5%, with vehicle margin down 2.0 percentage points to 11.6%, XPeng said.
For the fourth quarter, the company said it expects to deliver 20,000 to 21,000 vehicles, representing a decline of 50%-52% from a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to fall 40%-44% to between CNY4.8 billion and CNY5.1 billion, it said.
It said the outlook is based on “current market conditions” and reflects its estimates of “market and operating conditions, and customer demand.”
Write to Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com
