Xpeng Mona M03 goes on pre-order as plans for EU factory surface

Xpeng's Tesla Model 3 competitor, Mona M03, is now available for pre-order after seeing its official debut in early July this year. The car has "record-breaking" aerodynamics and it's now launching in China for RMB 119,800 ($16,800).

Meanwhile, Xpeng's CEO confirmed in an interview its company's plans to set foot in Europe and build a manufacturing facility. Just like BYD, Geely and Chery, Xpeng looks for a way to avoid EU's recent tariffs on Chinese EVs by producing the vehicles locally.

The plans are still in their early stages, and Xpeng is looking for a country with "relatively low labor risk." Luckily, Xpeng is already partnering with VW, so it believes it will be able to find a working solution sooner rather than later.

In addition to its manufacturing facility, Xpeng wants to build a big data center for more efficient data collection and to enable its intelligent driving system in the region. Notably, the automaker has one of the leading solutions in China when it comes to intelligent driving systems, so the data center in Europe will be crucial for the company.

Xpeng's CEO says the EU's tariffs won't blunt the firm's ambitions abroad. However, it does expect slightly lower profits from the European market in the short term as Xpeng's current tariff rate is 21.3%. If it's able to build a local factory with a data center, it will position itself as a strong competitor in the region.

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