Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plan to create their first joint strategy on automobile production and sales within the Southeast Asian bloc to counter China's increasing presence in the electric vehicle market, the Nikkei reported yesterday.
The aim is to draw up an interim joint strategy through around 2035 when the Japanese and Asean economic ministers meet next September.
Japan intends to tap the 140 billion yen (HK$7 billion) that its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry secured in the budget for assistance to the Global South, for personnel training, the report said.
Also yesterday, China's National Development and Reform Commission said it will take measures to strengthen the leading position of the country's electric vehicle industry.
The reports came as XPeng's (9868) shares jumped over 7 percent in Hong Kong before revealing its new artificial intelligence initiative.
As one of the rising Chinese EV makers, XPeng said new products will be launched in the second half of the year and it is confident in sales growth via product upgrading and AI.
XPeng unveiled its end-to-end large model and announced the AI tool will be installed into its vehicles to enhance smart driving.
Shares of XPeng advanced by 7.5 percent to HK$34.25. Other Chinese peers also climbed, with Li Auto (2015) and Geely Automobile (0175) both up by over 4 percent.
However, Li Auto's first-quarter net profit slumped 72 percent quarter-on-quarter to 1.28 billion yuan (HK$1.38 billion), which is also 9.7 percent lower than one year ago, though the total deliveries grew 52 percent year-on-year to 80,400 units.
The operating margin even swung to a negative 2.3 percent for the first three months of the year, from a positive 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 2.2 percent one year ago.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi's (1810) electric vehicle unit and China's battery giant CATL have set up a joint venture with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan on battery manufacturing.
In other news, US giant Tesla is working to appease European leasing companies after the automaker's repeated retail price cuts tanked their fleets' value and its slow service and expensive repairs alienated their corporate customers.
XPeng is making waves with its AI advances. Reuters
