Tesla’s Chinese rival to begin trading on NYSE

Chinese electric vehicle company Xpeng Motors will today issue 85 million American depository shares in a proposed initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Xpeng officially filed its prospectus on August 8 with plans to start trading under the ticker symbol “XPEV”. The IPO—the underwriters for which include Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America—will give Xpeng a vital financial boost as it faces increasing competition from rival electric carmakers within China, as well as US-based rival Tesla Inc.

Xpeng will likely face strict scrutiny from US regulators, after Chinese coffee company Luckin recently spooked investors by fabricating sales numbers and was subsequently delisted from the Nasdaq. Xpeng also clashed with Tesla last year over its alleged theft of Autopilot source code, leading the US automaker to subpoena Xpeng’s American business unit with requested access to the company’s autonomous driving technology source code. Given the worsening tensions between Beijing and Washington, Xpeng’s stock performance will likely set an important tone for other Chinese firms listing on Wall Street, such as e-commerce giant and Xpeng-backer Alibaba.

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