Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng gets $76 million funding from authorities

GUANGZHOU, China — Electric carmaker Xpeng Motors has obtained a new round of expenditure from the govt of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The 500 million yuan ($76.9 million) funding from Guangdong Yuecai Investment decision Holdings Co., the province’s financial investment arm, will be utilized to “speed up the company’s small business growth,” Xpeng mentioned in a statement.

Xpeng is headquartered in Guangzhou, the money of Guangdong province. The region has been putting a aim on new power cars and autonomous driving. Warren Buffett-backed electric carmaker BYD is based in Shenzhen, the tech powerhouse in Guangdong. And autonomous driving commence-ups these as Pony.ai, WeRide and AutoX are all centered in the province.

The investment will enable to speed up the “vehicle industry’s strategic transition in Guangdong,” Xpeng said in a push launch.

Because its $1.5 billion U.S. first general public presenting in August, Xpeng has ongoing to increase dollars to fuel its expansion, ramp up manufacturing and struggle towards domestic rivals as nicely as Tesla. In September, Xpeng received 4 billion yuan in financing from an arm of the Guangzhou govt. In January, the company secured a credit line of 12.8 billion yuan from main condition-owned banking institutions.

The organization has been concentrating on constructing its manufacturing base with two wholly-owned factories — a person in Zhaoqing and yet another at this time less than design in Guangzhou.

Immediately after a significant surge in 2020, Xpeng shares are underneath strain this 12 months and down about 18% 12 months-to-day.