By Gary S. Vasilash

The numbers for Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng—not merely EVs, but “Smart EVs”—for 2021 are rather impressive, especially when looked at as a percentage basis compared to 2020.

As in:

• 181% increase in the number of vehicles delivered in December 2021 vs. December 2020
• 222% increase in deliveries in Q4 2021 vs. Q4 2020
• 263% increase in total vehicles delivered in 2021 vs. 2020

But then when you drill down the numbers are somewhat less impressive.

• 16,000 vehicles delivered in December 2021
• 41,751 vehicles delivered in Q4 2021
• 98,155 vehicles delivered in 2021

Still, directionally things are going well for the company.

The company offers both sedans and SUVs in the China market.  It is notable, as the interest in sedans in the U.S. is waning, that of its December deliveries of 16,000 vehicles, only 3,511 were SUVs—the largest share was taken by the sport and family sedans.

Another interesting thing about XPeng is that the company is building out a supercharging network—661 stations in all, located in 228 cities.

But even more notable is this: it has 311 retail outlets across 121 cities.

For a nascent company in the EV space, 311 is a lot of dealerships.

Tesla, for comparison, has about 170 galleries and showrooms in the U.S.