HK Stock Market Move | XPENG-W (09868) rose more than 4%, and the company's automotive fourth-quarter gross margin increased sequentially. Mona MO3 scale benefits improved.

XPENG-W (09868) rose more than 4%, rising 3.97% as of press time to 48.5 Hong Kong dollars with a trading volume of 4.65 billion Hong Kong dollars. Morgan Stanley released a research report stating that at the XPENG-W China BEST Conference, attention was focused on autonomous driving technology, vehicle gross margin, and off-peak season order performance. The company's management stated that they are confident in the sales recovery by the end of the first quarter due to the strong lineup of vehicles. The company's management expects the gross margin of the Mona series to exceed 10% with the continuous introduction of new models. The bank believes that the automotive gross margin will increase quarter by quarter in the fourth quarter of 2024 (8.4% in the third quarter), but will still be below 10%. This growth is mainly due to product mix optimization, particularly the increase in sales of P7+ and overseas markets, as well as the improvement in scale efficiency of the Mona MO3. The bank continued to point out that XPENG stated that it is expected to achieve a sales target of 400,000 vehicles by 2025, with overseas market sales expected to more than double year-on-year. In terms of product planning, the G6 and G9 will launch upgraded models in March equipped with advanced purely visual advanced driver assistance systems. A five-seat SUV based on the same platform as the P7+ is planned for delivery in the second quarter of 2025. The company will also launch a B-class sports sedan in the second to third quarter and two extended-range electric vehicles in the second half of the year.