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Chinese electric-vehicle maker Xpeng has officially switched on a dedicated production line for its humanoid robot IRON, with the first unit autonomously walking off the assembly line in Guangzhou. The company said on April 8, 2025, that it plans to begin mass production of the robot by late this year, deploying it first in its own stores and business sites before expanding to consumer and overseas markets in 2026.
The IRON robot, first unveiled in November 2024, drew widespread attention for its remarkably natural gait — so lifelike that some onlookers initially suspected a human was inside a suit. At the unveiling, Xpeng cut open part of the robot’s shell to reveal the mechanical structure inside, confirming it was a genuine machine. Now, the company has moved from research prototypes to a scalable production line, a milestone that founder He Xiaopeng called “building a production line from scratch for an entirely new product category with no precedent.”
IRON’s production line boasts automation rates exceeding 80% across core processes, according to Xpeng. The company applied the same automotive-grade quality control system it developed for electric vehicles to robot manufacturing, aiming for tighter precision and consistency. “This means we have moved beyond building R&D prototypes into manufacturing on a production line,” the company stated.
The robot itself is a technical powerhouse. IRON has 76 degrees of freedom — 21 in each hand — and is powered by three Turing AI chips developed in-house by Xpeng, delivering a computing performance of up to 2,250 TOPS (trillion operations per second). A physical AI foundation model is installed directly on the robot, enabling it to perform complex tasks autonomously without remote control. The company expects the gross profit margin per unit on general-purpose humanoid robots to be “far higher” than that of new energy vehicles, given the high technological barriers to entry.
Xpeng is also moving aggressively on the funding front. The robotics business raised more than $900 million (approximately ¥6.5 billion) in March 2025 from investors including IDG Capital, GL Ventures, Tencent, and Alibaba, valuing the unit at over $6.3 billion. Xpeng said at the time that it was the largest single funding round on record in China’s physical AI industry. The company plans to use the capital to scale production, expand R&D, and accelerate commercialization.
The move positions Xpeng alongside other global automakers venturing into humanoid robotics, most notably Tesla’s Optimus. While Tesla has shown prototypes performing simple tasks, Xpeng’s IRON appears more advanced in terms of degrees of freedom and on-chip computing power. However, analysts caution that mass production of humanoid robots remains fraught with challenges, including cost, safety, and real-world reliability. “Xpeng’s automotive manufacturing experience gives it a head start in precision production, but the robot market is still nascent,” said Gary Chen, an analyst at IDC China. “The key will be whether IRON can function reliably in dynamic environments like stores and factories.”
Xpeng’s broader strategy is to build three growth curves: automobiles, robotics, and global business. The company has already expanded its EV lineup and is entering new markets in Europe and Southeast Asia. By extending its manufacturing and supply chain expertise from electric vehicles into robotics, Xpeng is betting that physical AI — machines that can interact with the physical world — will become a major revenue driver in the coming decade.
The company has not yet revealed the price of IRON, but industry watchers expect it to be significantly higher than the average EV, potentially in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 per unit initially. Xpeng said it will start formal sales in China and overseas markets in 2026, with the first batch of units deployed internally at its own stores and business sites to gather real-world data and refine the system.
The activation of the IRON production line marks a significant step for Xpeng to diversify beyond EVs and tap into the emerging physical AI market. With strong investor backing, automotive-grade manufacturing rigor, and a robot that already turns heads, the company is positioning itself as a serious contender in the humanoid robot race — a race that could reshape the future of labor and automation.
