‘China’s Elon Musk’ uses just two numbers to demonstrate why his country’s auto industry is now outcompeting the U.S. and Europe

Christiaan Hetzner

<ul>
<li>Xpeng cofounder He Xiaopeng says the number of new electric vehicles equipped with highly automated “hands-off” driver assist features sold in China has soared in just a decade and is now outpacing its peers in the West.</li>
</ul>



If you want to know why the most technologically advanced cars are currently built in China rather than the United States or Europe, two numbers describe the breakneck pace of innovation there.<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



Fifty represents the penetration rate of so-called new energy vehicles (NEVs) as a share of the overall Chinese market. In other words, an EV or plug-in hybrid constitutes every other new car sold last year.



The second number, 55.7, represents the percentage of NEVs sold last year that came equipped with “hands-off” automated driving assist systems, similar to features like Tesla’s Full Self-Driving or Ford’s BlueCruise.



To put that in perspective, when He Xiaopeng helped found New York–listed Chinese EV maker XPeng back in 2014, these figures were both below 1%. 



“One can tell that great improvements in development have been witnessed in China for the past decade,” said He, speaking on Tuesday at his global brand night held this year in Hong Kong, where his premium X9 family van was the star of the show.



Ten years may seem like quite a while in the consumer electronics industry, but in the safety-obsessed auto business, it is roughly the time span of one full product life cycle, starting with the design of a new model and ending with its final year of production.



By comparison, overall U.S. sales of <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=63904" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EVs and plug-in hybrids</a> are only roughly 11% of its light vehicle market, with Europe higher at 23%. 



When it comes to driver assist features, it’s difficult to find directly comparable stats.



But using Tesla as a proxy, the most technologically advanced hands-off feature is present in perhaps only a quarter of its cars, and CEO Elon Musk cut the price twice to <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/04/22/elon-musk-tesla-price-cuts-earnings-fsd-supervised-full-self-driving-beta/">spur demand</a>. 



U.S. and European policymakers are now forced to slap on steep tariffs to prevent their&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/asia/2024/08/27/xpeng-explores-europe-manufacturing-site-eu-tariffs-china-ev/?utm_source=search&amp;utm_medium=suggested_search&amp;utm_campaign=search_link_clicks">home markets</a>&nbsp;from being inundated with affordable Chinese EVs.



But CEO He is optimistic about XPeng making an impact abroad, too: “Over the next decade we aim for over half of our sales to come from overseas, striving to really dominate as China’s leading mid- to high-end export brand.”  



Recently, Volkswagen—for decades the undisputed market leader in China thanks to its first-mover advantage—has entered into a direct partnership with He’s XPeng. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Who is He Xiaopeng?</h2>



With the money he made from <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/10/alibaba-acquires-ucweb-maker-of-chinas-most-popular-mobile-browser/">selling</a> popular mobile browser provider UCWeb to Alibaba, He launched EV maker XPeng.



This is similar to Musk, who took his PayPal earnings from the <a href="https://fortune.com/company/ebay/" target="_blank">eBay</a> sale to invest in an obscure young EV startup&nbsp;Tesla <a href="https://www.tesla.com/secret-master-plan">back in 2004</a>.



To Tesla loyalists, He is often seen as a Musk imitator, following a familiar playbook—almost to the letter. Like Musk, He has developed custom silicon chips for autonomous driving, built a humanoid robot (dubbed “Iron”), and expanded into aerospace. The difference: instead of rockets, He is betting on flying cars.



Still, XPeng operates in a vastly different league from Tesla when it comes to scale and market value.



Tesla enjoyed a near-monopoly in the West for years, thanks to its technological edge, vertically integrated software, and dominant Supercharger network. In contrast, XPeng has had to battle a crowded Chinese market led by <a href="https://fortune.com/company/byd-2/" target="_blank">BYD</a> and filled with ambitious rivals.



As a result, XPeng remains a fraction of Tesla’s size, jockeying for position around seventh or eighth place among China’s new energy vehicle brands.



Whether He’s company can survive China’s ongoing <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/01/06/tesla-price-cuts-china-elon-musk-ev-sales-war-warren-buffett-byd/">EV price war</a> is a question still very much in play.</div>

Xiaopeng He, dubbed 'China’s Elon Musk', used two numbers to describe the breakneck pace of EV innovation in China.

Xpeng founder uses two numbers to demonstrate why China's auto industry is now outcompeting the U.S. and Europe

Xiaopeng He, founder and chairman of Xpeng Inc., during a launch event for the company's X9 vehicle in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025

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Xiaopeng He is optimistic about Xpeng making an impact abroad too.

'China’s Elon Musk' uses just two numbers to demonstrate why his country’s auto industry is now outcompeting the U.S. and Europe

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