(Bloomberg) -- Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng Inc. expects its new G9 sports utility vehicle to spur growth after a challenging period that’s seen its share price slump 72% since the start of the year. 

“With the G9, we start launching products in the next few quarters, probably at least one product per quarter, and that is going to be the main catalyst for our new growth,” XPeng President Brian Gu said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday.  

“This year we have faced a number of challenges as a company, also an industry, as an economy,” Gu said. “This market requires new products and technology to push forward the brand and the sales momentum.”

XPeng and much of the wider industry has struggled as Covid and supply-chain disruptions impacted production. The Guangzhou-based automaker sold almost 9,600 EVs in August, well short of Shenzhen-based market leader BYD Co., which has a more vertically-integrated supply chain and sold 174,000 vehicles.  

The G9 SUV is XPeng’s fourth model and will be priced between 309,900 yuan ($43,710) and 459,900 yuan. Deliveries to Chinese customers begin in October. Gu said the SUV will also be sold in XPeng’s European markets -- Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. 

New features include a so-called advanced driving assistance system and fast-charging that allows the SUV to drive 124 miles (200 kilometers) after just five minutes of charging. 

“There’s lots of new products coming from Nio, from XPeng, from Li and many other competitors,” Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu said. “This is going to drive penetration up again in the fourth quarter, so that is going to be a tailwind.”

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