XPeng (XPEV) shares sink as VP of autonomous driving resigns

XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) shares experienced a decline of over 5% on Wednesday following an announcement by the Chinese electric vehicle startup. The company disclosed in a statement that Wu Xinzhou, the Vice President of Autonomous Driving, has tendered his resignation due to “personal and family reasons”.

Wu has been at the forefront of the Chinese EV maker's autonomous driving development since 2018. He oversees a team of over 1,000 engineers in both China and the United States.

The company announced that Li Liyun, senior director of XPeng's autonomous driving team, will take over Wu's role.

"We will remain fully committed to our clear roadmap for the full-stack in-house developed autonomous driving technology and our strategic partnership with the Volkswagen Group," said He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng.

"I will continue to personally lead our autonomous driving team and strengthen our leadership in Smart EV technologies," he added.

Earlier this week XPeng announced that the company delivered 11,008 vehicles in July, marking the sixth straight month of delivery growth, and highlighting the company’s ongoing recovery.

The Guangzhou-headquartered company has made efforts to establish itself as a leader in autonomous driving and other cutting-edge technologies compared to its competitors. Its primary semi-autonomous driving product, XNGP, has been positioned as a direct competitor to Tesla's Full Self-Driving autopilot system.

According to a Weibo post by Xiaopeng, Wu, who had previously expressed his desire to return to the U.S., will now be joining a prominent global company in a senior role. The chairman also expressed excitement about the prospect of further collaboration with Wu, particularly in the realm of chip development.

Shares of XPEV are down 5.51% near end of day trading on Wednesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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