Chinese EV maker Xpeng, peers look to win over Hongkongers to power global push

‘Xpeng and other mainland Chinese companies have abundant new technologies that can be introduced to Hong Kong,’ CEO says at expo in city

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Visitors walk among Chinese electric cars at the 2025 Hong Kong Automotive Expo at Asia-World Expo on June 12, 2025. Photo: Daniel Ren

Published: 8:37pm, 12 Jun 2025Updated: 8:39pm, 12 Jun 2025

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng aims to start offering Hong Kong consumers smart cars featuring semi-autonomous driving systems next year as it gears up to take on Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving) feature outside mainland China.

He Xiaopeng, co-founder and CEO of the Guangzhou-based carmaker, said in Hong Kong on Thursday that testing of its Xpeng Navigation Guided Pilot (X NGP) driver-assistance system in the city would take only two months before sales could begin.

However, he added that testing could start only after regulators gave Xpeng the green light to promote the software.

“I expect our technology to help Hong Kong improve [logistics] efficiency and driving safety,” He told reporters during the four-day 2025 International Automotive & Supply Chain Expo, which runs through Sunday. “Xpeng and other mainland Chinese companies have abundant new technologies that can be introduced to Hong Kong.”

Cars fitted with X NGP are viewed as semi-autonomous because drivers are still required to be hands-on and fully alert. The system, similar to Tesla’s FSD, had performed better than its US rival on the mainland because Xpeng invested heavily in fleet-data analysis and training algorithms to reduce failure rates, according to David Zhang, secretary general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association.

Xpeng is among dozens of major mainland carmakers – including SAIC Motor, Geely Auto, GAC Group and Chery Automobile – displaying a total of 80 models, mostly EVs, at Hong Kong’s largest car event as they rev up a go-global drive.

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