What's going on?

Xpeng Motors is here to show its competition who really owns the streets: the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) over the weekend.

What does this mean?

Xpeng currently has two EV models to its name, and now � after raising $400 million from Chinese tech giant Alibaba and several sovereign wealth funds � the company reckons an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange will help give those cars some much-needed juice in China. The country is the world�s biggest EV market, boosted by years of subsidies and tax breaks � a few of which have just been extended to 2022. But a big market maketh a tough market, and Xpeng not only competes with Chinese EV firms like Li Auto and NIO, but also with American darling Tesla, which is expanding its own Eastern presence with a Shanghai factory.

Why should I care?

For markets: In the zap of luxury.
EV makers have seen a big spike in investor interest since Tesla and NIO�s share prices started making significant headway earlier this year. And Li Auto � which had its IPO less than a month ago � has already seen its share price soar more than 40%. But Xpeng�s decision might not be without its challenges: it comes amid escalating US-China tensions that have threatened Chinese firms� plans to list on American stock exchanges.

Zooming out: Ioniq bonding.
Hyundai � the third-biggest carmaker in the world � wants in on that electric action: its share price rose more than 15% on Monday after the company announced it was creating a new family of EVs under its Ioniq brand, with three new model launches expected in early 2021. The Korean firm is hoping to capture 10% of global EV sales � equivalent to more than one million EVs � by 2025, which would make it the third-biggest EV maker in the world.