Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng is hoping to establish a presence in more markets overseas, and is betting on the global business to make up a larger portion of overall sales.
CNA sat down with XPeng CEO and Chinese billionaire He Xiaopeng to find out what makes him tick, in the first of a series of interviews with prominent figures making waves around East Asia.
The 46-year-old entrepreneur co-founded the Guangzhou-based automaker in 2014. He controls about a fifth of the eponymous company.
Here are eight things to know about him:
1. Why name the company after yourself?
The co-founders couldn’t register a good brand name and asked if (my name) Xiaopeng could be one of the registration options for the brand. Then they registered it.
We originally had names of many fruits or animals, because we had the idea in 2013 and when we started investing in 2014, Chinese internet companies basically used animals and fruits.
So we, at that time, didn’t want to use the lofty names you used to have, but use names that were more relatable to customers. But in fact, even those names were already taken. The company was very small at the time, and could not afford a brand name that someone else had already registered.
If in 10, 20 or 30 years, a Chinese (car) brand uses its own Chinese name to go global, and people like it, I think it would be very cool.
