Back to the future: Returning to Guangzhou for XPeng
The last time I set foot in China was back in late 2019 at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis though none of us realized the entire world was about to grind to a sudden halt. I was in town for the Guangzhou Motor Show. Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed.
Seven years later, I finally found myself back in Guangzhou.
It’s an incredible city, brimming with history, deep trading roots, and some of the finest food you’ll ever taste—this is, after all, the birthplace of Cantonese cuisine, one of China’s eight great culinary traditions. It’s also home to the famous Canton Fair, a trade complex that spans a staggering 1.55 million square meters. But I wasn’t just here for the dim sum or the trade halls. I came to visit the headquarters of a brand you need to remember: XPeng Motors.
Founded in 2014 by tech entrepreneurs He Xiaopeng (former co-founder of UCWeb and an Alibaba executive), Xia Heng, and He Tao, XPeng approaches car manufacturing from a totally different angle. If you talk to the engineers at HQ, they’ll tell you straight up: they are an AI and software company that just happens to build cars.
And they are scaling up fast. After producing 400,000 vehicles in 2025, they’ve set their sights on 600,000 units for 2026—a massive 50% jump year-over-year. What sets them apart is their sheer commitment to pure engineering. A staggering 40% of their total workforce is strictly dedicated to R&D across AI, software, robotics, and mobility—the highest ratio in the industry. They back this up with nine global R&D hubs (six in China, two in the US, and one in Germany) and over 4,200 software and tech patents. He Xiaopeng himself remains deeply involved as Chairman and CEO, directly leading their robotics unit.
Beyond their slick line-up of electric and extended-range hybrid vehicles, XPeng is diving headfirst into low-altitude flight. Later this year, they are launching the Land Aircraft Carrier—a two-part vehicle setup featuring a six-wheeled “Mothership” built on an 800V Silicon Carbide architecture. It houses, docks, and charges a fully electric two-seater eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft featuring a six-rotor design with foldable carbon-fiber propellers. The ground unit’s range-extender powertrain can charge the aircraft up to six times before needing a top-up itself.
The aircraft module flies for 30 minutes with a top speed of 60 km/h and a 30 km range. Structurally, its carbon-fiber chassis can handle altitudes up to 2,000 meters, though Chinese regulations cap flight height at 120 meters (400 feet). The best news? Once local regulatory pathways are sorted out, XPeng plans to bring this flying vehicle—and future low-altitude craft—straight to the Philippines.
Then there’s the robotics side. I got to stand right next to their “Iron” humanoid robot prototype—standing 173 cm tall, weighing 70 kg, and packing 82 degrees of freedom across its frame, including 22-DoF tactile-sensing hands. Learning about its roadmap was mind-blowing. While initial roles focus on receptionists and tour guides, XPeng’s ultimate goal is deploying these AI-powered units into dangerous factory environments where humans shouldn’t have to risk their lives.
Underpinning all this hardware is XPeng’s in-house silicon: the Turing AI Chip. This custom 40-core processor pumps out 750 TOPS of effective computing power per unit—scalable up to 2,250 TOPS in a triple-chip setup—and runs massive AI models with up to 30 billion parameters directly on the vehicle.
We got to sample this processing power firsthand with their VLA 2.0 (Vision-Language-Action) autonomous driving system installed on models like the GX and P7. Relying on seven high-definition 360-degree cameras feeding an end-to-end neural network, three Turing chips make up to 5,000 split-second driving decisions per second. Experiencing it in motion was wild—it drove smooth, human-like, and intuitive, navigating a pre-programmed route door-to-door without a hint of hesitation.
It’s a shame VLA 2.0 isn’t road-legal in the Philippines yet; a system this precise could make a genuine dent in our national road accident numbers.
The good news is that we won’t have to wait long to see the brand on local soil. XPeng is officially launching in the Philippines this September. Their initial rollout will feature three models: the L03 compact crossover, the ultra-luxurious X9 MPV, and a flagship SUV (with HQ currently choosing between the G9L and the GX).
