Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng wants to sell half of its cars overseas

BEIJING — Chinese electric car start-up Xpeng plans to become a global automaker, with half of vehicle deliveries going to countries outside China, vice president and chairman Brian Gu said Wednesday.

“As a company that focuses on global opportunities, we want to be balanced with our contribution of delivery — half from China, half from outside China — in the long run,” Gu said in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal on “Squawk Box Asia.”

Gu did not provide a specific time frame for achieving that goal.

For comparison, U.S.-based Tesla said in the third quarter that its home market accounted for 46.6% of total sales.

China accounted for 22.6% of Tesla’s overall sales, up…