XPeng surprises public with the official name of its first EV under new MONA brand before launch

Nine days before XPeng Motors is expected to launch its new AI-centric BEV brand MONA publicly, it has given the social media world a little appetizer by sharing the official name and first full image of its first model.

XPeng’s ($XPEV) incoming sub-brand is called MONA, which is an acronym for “Made Of New AI.” This nods to previous commitments by the automaker’s Chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng, who vowed to invest RMB 3.5 billion (~$492M) in “AI-enabled smart driving” technology in 2024 to support R&D and hire 4,000 new employees.

AI-driven technology has been at the forefront of the design philosophy in XPeng Motors’ latest models, and the Chinese automaker intends to take things to another echelon with MONA. Not only that, XPeng has promised that MONA BEVs will deliver the tech at an affordable price for all, targeting MSRPs around RMB 100,000-150,000 ($14,000-$21,000).

During the reveal of the sub-brand’s name, Xiaopeng also said it would make its official debut in June 2024, later confirmed to take place on the 20th. Up until now, the MONA name has been our only juicy tidbit about the new AI-EV brand, aside from a couple of shadowy images of its first model, whose name had yet to be shared.

We expected to see the complete look at the new MONA BEV in a couple of weeks, but XPeng surprised us by unveiling the first official image of its exterior alongside its name – the M03.

XPeng’s MONA brand will launch with an EV called “M03”

Surprise!

Per a Weibo post by XPeng Motors earlier today, the MONA brand’s first model is called the M03. The news came alongside the full exterior image seen above, as well as a tiny blurb:

A surprise after the holidays, the first product in the MONA series is named Xiaopeng M03! #小鹏MONA is here!

The post also links to a new Weibo page explicitly dedicated to the new MONA sub-brand, although posts and other details remain light at this point.

As you may have noticed from the post, there’s some confusing rhetoric about the new A-class sedan as XPeng describes the model as the ” Xiaopeng M03,” the first vehicle in the “MONA series.”

Is it a MONA BEV or an XPeng BEV?

We are sure we will learn more about the new brand and the M03 during XPeng’s official launch presentation, which is still expected to occur later in June. Be sure to check back soon for the latest updates on XPeng, MONA, and the M03 – whichever brand it launches under.