Xia Heng ( zh, 夏珩; born 7 November 1983) or Henry Xia is a Chinese entrepreneur. He co-founded the Chinese plug-in gas-electric hybrid car company XPeng Motors.

Early years

Heng studied automobile engineering at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 2008 after 6 years there. Prior to co-founding XPeng Motors, Henry served as the supervisor for the New Energy Vehicle Control Section, a research and development team, at

Guangzhou Automobile Group Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC Group) is a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Founded in 1954, it is currently the Automotive industry in China#List of ...

. He received multiple awards in research, innovation and management during his time at

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. Heng has worked as a resident engineer in multiple European countries, has published more than 10 research papers and patents about electric and smart vehicles, and has expertise in electric and smart vehicle controls, vehicle integration and project management.

XPeng Motors

In 2014, Heng co-founded XPeng Motors with a small group of vehicle and IT experts. Heng is tasked with the company's strategic planning and product architecture design. The company initially focused on

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

for new core technologies for use in motors, batteries, electronic control systems and center-display touch screens. Heng recruited former employees from Guangzhou Automobile, BMW,

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

, BYD,

ALi ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

, and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

. Since 2015, the company has built and tested four test cars. XPeng has projected that it will start production of its own vehicle before the end of 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xia, Heng 1983 births Living people 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Businesspeople from Hunan Chinese founders of automobile manufacturers Tsinghua University alumni XPeng people