XPeng’s shares rose sharply in Hong Kong after the electric-vehicle maker announced a strategic partnership with ride-hailing giant DiDi Global. 

XPeng’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 14% to 74.45 Hong Kong dollars (US$9.49), taking its year-to-date gains to 94%. 

XPeng will acquire Didi’s smart auto development business assets for 5.835 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$744 million), it said in an exchange filing on Monday. It will issue Class A ordinary shares at HK$64.03 per share to Didi, representing 3.25% of the company’s outstanding shares. 

XPeng aims to accelerate the adoption of smart EVs and technologies in the mass-market segment. It plans to launch an A-class smart EV model under a new brand in 2024 under the partnership with DiDi, currently dubbed “MONA.” Didi will provide support from its mobility ecosystem thanks to its access to a nationwide shared mobility market. The new brand will be differentiated from XPeng’s main brand and will “pave the way for the company to build highly popular Smart EV models for the mass-market segment in the RMB150,000 [US$$20,575] price range,” XPeng said in a press release. 

XPeng becomes “the first automotive manufacturing company will full support from the ecosystem of DiDi,” it said. The two parties plan to explore cooperation in areas including marketing and robotaxis as well as financial and insurance services. 

Beijing-based Didi is a homegrown ride-hailing giant that took over Uber’s business in China in 2016. It delisted from the New York stock exchange in 2021, shortly after its highly-anticipated initial public offering after Beijing initiated a wave of tech crackdown and probed into the security of its data. 

XPeng reported a wider-than-expected net loss of CNY2.8 billion in the second quarter as the EV maker struggles amid weak consumption and intensified price competition in China.