Chinese EV maker XPENG is rapidly increasing its Iron humanoid robot production. And that’s because the company is all set to launch these robots on a global level. XPENG plans to increase production capacity to more than 1,000 robots per month. Although the company is famous for manufacturing EVs, now they are focusing on expanding its business beyond cars. As per the company, the AI or software used for making cars can be used for manufacturing humanoid robots, too. 

According to the company’s roadmap, first of all, Iron will be deployed as a sales assistant at XPENG showrooms all over the country. And after that, in the same year, it will be introduced to the company’s overseas stores, too. As far as the international deployment of Iron is concerned, the company plans to expand its international deployment in the second quarter of 2027. And guess what? XPENG also believes that in 2028, people will be able to use Iron at their homes as well. 

XPENG first introduced the latest version of Iron during its AI Day event in November 2025. There, the robot successfully gained a lot of attention. Thanks to its smooth and human-like walk on stage. This demo was so close to reality that people even started to doubt if there was a human hidden inside the robot. However, in order to clear all the misunderstandings, the Chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng, showed the robot’s internal mechanical structure to the audience.

Iron Robot Specifications

Iron is 178 centimeters (5 feet 10 inches) tall and weighs 70 kilograms (154 pounds). It is powered by an all-solid-state battery. This battery is designed to improve safety and reduce heat generation. And the best part is that it provides longer operating time.

The humanoid robot is powered by the company’s three self-developed Turing AI chips. All of these, when combined, give a computing power of 2,250 TOPS. Iron also operates on XPENG’s second-generation Vision-Language-Action (VLA) AI model. And because of this technology, it becomes capable of understanding visual information and processing language along with performing physical actions in real time.

The human-like design of Iron features 62 active joints. These joints enable it to move smoothly and maintain balance. The robot has 2 hands with 22 degrees of freedom. This is what makes it capable of handling delicate objects as well as heavy tools. There’s a curved display on its head that acts as an expressive face to improve communication and interaction with people. As per XPENG, Iron can walk at a speed of upto 2m/s. 

XPENG began construction of a 110,000-square-meter humanoid robot production base in Guangzhou during the first quarter of 2026 to support large-scale manufacturing of Iron robots. The company plans to use this facility for research and development validation along with small-batch testing and full-scale manufacturing.

During the company’s March earnings call, He Xiaopeng said Iron would enter mass production by the end of 2026 with a monthly production target of more than 1,000 units.

He also said that with Iron’s high level of intelligence and XPENG’s advantages in scaled manufacturing and supply chains, the company has the potential to become one of the world’s largest and most valuable humanoid robot companies.

To speed up commercialization, He announced in June that he would personally serve as the “CEO” of XPENG’s robotics business. The company also reorganized its robotics center and established nine new second-level departments.

XPENG expects to spend RMB 7 billion (about $1.03 billion) on physical AI-related research and development this year. Meanwhile, analysts believe the humanoid robotics industry is entering a faster commercialization phase, forecasting shipments in China to reach 50,000 units in 2026 and 100,000 units in 2027.