(Yicai) May 22 -- Xpeng Motors’ shares climbed after the Chinese electric vehicle startup said its net loss halved in the first quarter, driven by a fourfold jump in deliveries to a record high, and founder He Xiaopeng predicted the company would turn its first profit in the fourth quarter.

Xpeng [HKG: 9868] finished up 5.8 percent at HKD82.05 (USD10.48) a share in Hong Kong today, after earlier jumping by as much as 10.2 percent. Its New York-listed stock [NYSE: XPEN] added 13 percent yesterday to end at USD22.25.

The net loss was CNY660 million (USD91.7 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with CNY1.4 billion (USD190.4 million) a year earlier, according to the earnings report the Guangzhou-based firm released yesterday. Revenue soared 142 percent to CNY15.8 billion (USD2.2 billion).

“I believe we'll not only meet our goal of more than doubling sales growth this year, but we'll achieve profitability in the fourth quarter and generate substantial free cash flow for the entire year,” He said on Xpeng’s earnings conference call.

The automaker delivered 94,008 vehicles in the quarter, a 331 percent increase from the same period of last year. It handed over 35,045 cars to buyers last month alone.

“Despite seasonality for auto sales, our quarterly deliveries hit a new historical high, making us the top-selling automaker among emerging electric vehicle companies," He, who is also chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We remain committed to our steadfast long-term growth strategy and continue to launch more blockbuster products.”

Overseas deliveries climbed by more than 31,700 in the quarter, He said on the call. The company opened more than 40 new overseas showrooms, entering key markets such as the United Kingdom and Indonesia, he added.

“We anticipate that our overseas business will experience rapid growth over the next three years, becoming a significant contributor to our sales and profit increase,” He predicted.

For this quarter, Xpeng expects revenue to rise 116 percent to 131 percent to between CNY17.5 billion and CNY18.7 billion from a year earlier. Deliveries will likely jump 238 percent to 258 percent to between 102,000 and 108,000 units.

“We'll finalize annual upgrades or configuration improvements for five models, with two brand new major models set to begin deliveries in the third quarter," He noted.

With enhanced self-sustaining capabilities, Xpeng will drive ongoing breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and product development, pursuing integrated innovations across fields, including assisted driving, smart cockpits, chips, embodied intelligent robots, and enterprise productivity tools, according to He.

"Our investments in AI vehicles also provide distinct advantages in humanoid robot research and development in China's robotics industry," He said, adding that such robots will be Xpeng's third growth curve.

According to a previously released plan, Xpeng aims to launch humanoid robots for industrial and commercial use next year and evolve rapidly through data from mass production scenarios.

Xpeng will soon release the fifth-generation model of its Iron android, powered by Turning AI chips. The fourth-generation model appeared at the Shanghai Auto Show last month.

"Xpeng's robot models will surpass traditional industry technological approaches, such as small reinforcement learning models and fragmented systems, by utilizing the vision-language-action architecture of our physical world foundation model and taking advantage of our existing cloud AI infrastructure to improve robotic intelligence," He noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione