XPeng's Graz Assembly Gambit: Dodging Tariffs While the Share Price Hits New Lows
Published on 08/15/2026 at 17:42 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Chinese electric vehicle maker is quietly assembling three of its models — the G6, G9 and P7+ — from kits at Magna Steyr's plant in Graz, Austria. The move sidesteps the European Commission's 20.7 percent countervailing duties on EVs manufactured in China, and a fourth model is slated to join local production before the year is out.
For shareholders, the operational pivot signals that XPeng's European ambitions extend beyond PowerPoint slides. But the market has yet to reward the strategy.
The stock closed Friday at EUR 10.12, down 1.0 percent on the day and now trading just 1.3 percent above its 52-week low of EUR 9.99, a level first touched on August 13. The shares have surrendered 16 percent over the past month and 44 percent since the start of the year, leaving them 59 percent below the November 12 high. The relative strength index sits at 34.4, a technically oversold reading that analysts caution is not in itself a buy signal.
Institutional investors split down the middle
The latest 13F filings paint a picture of diverging conviction among the big money managers. UBS grew its position by 27.0 percent during the second quarter of 2026, lifting its stake to 5,580,085 American Depositary Shares worth roughly USD 73.9 million. BlackRock, by contrast, trimmed its holding by 23.5 percent over the same stretch, paring back to 2.228 million shares.
The opposing moves underscore just how sharply large investors disagree on the risk-reward calculus at current levels.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XPeng?
Delivery momentum stalls against a shrinking home market
July deliveries came in at 38,027 vehicles, a 4 percent improvement year on year but a 5.23 percent decline from June. Cumulative global deliveries reached 1,211,071 units by the end of July. The headline growth, however, masks a deeper problem: media reports indicate first-seven-month deliveries fell 12.78 percent versus the comparable period last year, and monthly volumes have not approached the 42,000-plus peak reached in October 2025 since.
The headwinds are partly structural. China's passenger car market has now posted ten consecutive months of declining sales, with domestic deliveries down more than 20 percent over the first seven months of the year. XPeng is fighting a sector-wide slump that complicates its growth narrative.
Product offensive and the road ahead
Management is countering with a broad lineup refresh. Early August brought the first promotional push for the G9L, a five-seat SUV pitched as a "global technology flagship" built on an 800-volt platform capable of adding 450 kilometers of range in nine minutes of charging. Pricing and launch timing remain undisclosed.
The international push extends beyond Europe. A brand day in Munich in mid-July doubled as the global launch event for the Mona L03, a model slated to roll out across 65 countries and regions this year. Australia is also in the crosshairs, with five new models planned for the second half of 2026 alongside an expanded local sales and service network.
On the technology front, XPeng unveiled the second generation of its "Turing VLA" autonomous driving system last week, with European deliveries of vehicles equipped with the system promised from 2027.
What to watch when Q2 numbers land
Citigroup analysts, in a preview published in early August, project a non-GAAP net loss of roughly RMB 1 billion for the second quarter, with a gross margin near 20 percent and an automotive-specific margin of about 12.5 percent. The unaudited results are due out on August 24 before the US market open, followed by a management call scheduled for 8 a.m. Eastern.
UBS reaffirmed its Hold rating on the stock on August 12, and no major house has shifted its stance since. The near-term catalyst is clear: the quarterly report will show whether the strategic investments in tariff avoidance, new models and geographic expansion are beginning to show up in the profit-and-loss statement, or whether the stock's slide toward its floor has further to run.
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