Xiaopeng Motor will open its first overseas self-owned store to accelerate overseas expansion

Xiaopeng Motor, a Chinese electric car company, is accelerating its international expansion and plans to open its first overseas store this week (by February 13) and deepen retail network cooperation with partners, according to foreign media reports.

Xiaopeng Motor will open a retail store in Stockholm, Sweden, which will open this week. Xiaopeng also signed a car sales agreement with Bilia, a large Swedish car dealer and distributor, to supply goods and services to Bilia stores. Xiaopeng also signed a distribution agreement with Dutch car retailer Emil Frey. Xiaopeng said it plans to open a store near (Hague) in the Hague, the Netherlands, in March this year.

Xiaopeng's foray into retail operations in Sweden and the Netherlands is the company's biggest international expansion to date and plans to sell half of its cars overseas in the future. "our global journey begins in Europe, and we are committed to the popularization of smart electric vehicles," he Xiaopeng, chief executive of Xiaopeng, said in a statement. "

In 2020, Xiaopeng began to export cars to Norway. Xiaopeng Motor works with a local partner to sell cars, and there is no self-owned store yet. So far, Xiaopeng has focused on countries with fast-growing penetration of electric vehicles.

But Xiaopeng's competitors have also set their sights on Europe. Xilai opened a flagship store in Oslo, Norway, and began delivering cars there last September. Buffett-backed BYD also began exporting electric cars to Norway last summer.

While sales of electric vehicles continue to grow in China, domestic start-ups are laying the groundwork for aggressive overseas expansion, which could boost future growth but could also intensify their competition with European and American carmakers such as Tesla.

On February 9, Xiaopeng Motor's Hong Kong-listed shares were included in the "Hong Kong Stock Connect", the share price rose.