XPeng and BYD Announce Strategic Acquisitions

While Tesla Inc TSLA gets ready to defend itself for the first time at September’s trial against allegations that its Autopilot driver assistant failure caused death, its Chinese rival BYD Company Limited BYDDY reported today record deliveries, retaining its crown as China’s best-selling EV brand. BYD also revealed its electronics unit bought the mobility business of a US firm Jabil Inc JBL. The Hong Kong-listed stock of BYD closed 0.7% up. Also today, Chinese EV startup XPeng XPEV revealed it will be purchasing a ride-hailing company Didi Global Inc.'s smart-car development business. After the news, Xpeng's shares rose 5.5% in pre-market trading.

BYD Reports Record Deliveries

From January to June, a stock market filing showed BYD’s profit rose 204.7%, with net earnings reaching 10.95 billion yuan ($1.50 billion) as revenue rose 72.7% to 260.12 billion yuan.

A Reminder That BYD Does More Than Dominate The China’s EV Sector

BYD’s electronics unit will be buying Jabil’s mobile electronics manufacturing business in China for 15.8 billion yuan, which amounts to $2.2 billion. The unit Jabil Circuit was established this month to absorb Jabil’s product-manufacturing businesses in Chengdu and Wuxi. According to its website, Jabil Circuit’s mission is to drive supply-chain intelligence in healthcare, telecommunications, computing and storage.

Although it’s best known for its EV footprint, BYD started out by selling electronic components and it entered the car industry in 2003 by acquiring Nanjing-based automaker Qin Chuan, which had a permit for car manufacturing. Since then, it has been giving Tesla a run for its money in China. If the deal is completed, BYD will also empower Jabil to make its mark in EVs, renewable energy, healthcare, AI cloud data centers, along with other markets. 

XPeng’s EV Acquisition

Another Tesla rival, XPeng will be launching a new EV brand next year in partnership with Didi Global Inc that XPeng agreed to purchase for $744 million in an all-stock deal, hoping to gain a tech edge in the increasingly competitive market with the project name "MONA". In return, DiDi will become a strategic shareholder of XPeng in an all-stock deal, which will entail it to 3.25% of the smart EV maker's outstanding shares.

Current XPeng's vehicles come at a price tag of $27,400 or above, but vehicles under the MONA project will be marketed differently as the new brand will be targeted at the mass market segment at approximately $20,500. With DiDi’s data from its mobility platform, XPeng’s most recent investment could further enhance its autonomous driving algorithms. 

Last month, XPeng entered a deal with Volkswagen VWAGY to develop two new EVs for the Chinese market. Although the EVs will be under the Volkswagen brand, they will be equipped with XPeng technology that will cover both the software part and autonomous driving. Also targeting the middle-class, these EVs are expected to launch in 2026. 

While Tesla comes closer to its Cybertruck fall debut, its China rivals are intensifying their competitive strengths, with XPeng announcing it will be looking into further collaborations for fleet management, charging, robotaxis, international expansions and so on.

DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended as investing advice.