China's Xpeng to take over smart EV division of ride-hailing giant Didi

GUANGZHOU, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese electric car company Xpeng said on Monday that it will acquire ride-hailing giant Didi's smart electric vehicle (EV) unit in a strategic partnership between the two companies.

Xpeng said it will issue class A shares representing about 3.25 percent of the company's outstanding share capital for as much as 5.835 billion Hong Kong dollars (744 million U.S. dollars) to acquire the related assets as well as the research and development capabilities of Didi's smart EV unit.

Xpeng said it will launch a new A-level intelligent EV model next year under "MONA" brand, targeting the mass market at a price tier of 150,000 yuan (20,875 U.S. dollars).

Didi said it will provide support in the model's intelligent vehicle cockpit, intelligent driving, the shared traveling market, and so on to accelerate the application and promotion of automated pilot assistance and intelligent cockpit technologies in the global market, according to their cooperation plan.