Six months after announcing plans to begin EV production in Europe with the help of contract manufacturer Magna Steyr, XPeng Motors has begun rolling two initial all-electric models off those assembly lines overseas. The Chinese automaker continues to deepen its presence in the EU to gain a larger market share
In May 2024, we reported that Magna Steyr’s president confirmed nearly every Chinese EV automaker, including XPeng Motors, had been in touch with the contract manufacturer about localized EV production in Europe.
This past March, the Austrian production arm of Magna International confirmed it was finalizing two EV assembly contracts with two Chinese brands – XPeng and GAC Group, which could begin as early as June.
The initial report out of Austria in March stated that both XPeng and GAC were planning to utilize a Semi-Knocked-Down (SKD) build process, in which pre-fabricated components are imported from China into Austria before being assembled locally at Magna Steyr.