- Xpeng says China will soon produce a product that beats the Tesla Model Y
- Co-founder He Xiaopeng says the company is not far from beating Tesla
- Technology-focused company wants to compete with premium European players
During the launch of Xpeng’s upcoming L03 EV in Munich this week, the company’s first simultaneous vehicle unveiling in Europe and China, founder He Xiaopeng said he believed the brand was “not far from beating the Model Y,” according to the Financial Times.
Not one to shy away from Tesla comparisons, Xpeng has always strived to be seen as more technology-focused than many of its closest Chinese rivals, with humanoid robots, artificial intelligence and eVTOL light electric aircraft also part of the company’s portfolio.
Said to have a starting price of €35,600 (around $40,600/AU$58,000), the L03 features sporty SUV coupé styling, a 15.6-inch central infotainment display, lounge-style seating and what the company calls its most advanced intelligent driving features ever introduced to global markets.
“The L03 has the potential to be a blockbuster model in terms of being a volume driver and certainly one of the Model Y killers, but not the killer,” Lei Xing, founder of Chinese consultancy AutoXing, told the Financial Times.
Having driven the company’s G6, which is clearly a Tesla Model Y rival in both exterior design and the technology it offers, I have to agree. I still think Tesla’s recently updated Model 3 and Model Y are the better cars to drive.
The software at the heart of these cars also provides a much leaner user experience.
Second, Tesla’s Supercharger ecosystem remains one of the cheapest and simplest to use in most markets today. Granted, it doesn’t offer the fastest charging speeds, but its convenience and reliability more than make up for it.
Spend any time in a Tesla or with Tesla owners and they’ll attest to how simple the recharging process is—from the fact that the vehicle plans trips based on range and state of charge to the contactless billing process.
Analysis: catching up quickly
Having driven Xpeng products in Europe, I have been impressed by the speed at which the company has improved successive generations of its vehicles.
A tangible leap in the quality of the G6’s interior, faster charging speeds and more potent processing power made it much easier to live with overall – not to mention the technical updates under the skin that made it better to drive.
The latest L03 is reported to push things further with its VLA 2.0 (Vision Language-Action) software powering its Next Generation Pilot autonomous driving functionality. It will also be the first Chinese automaker to ship a vehicle with Google Maps built in.
But even with this, it’s hard to see Xpeng managing the simplicity of Tesla’s software and ownership experience. This philosophy was built into the company’s DNA, with the Model S quickly considered the iPhone of the EV world when it launched some 14 years ago.
The Xpeng is undoubtedly making waves in the EV industry, but there were only 900 UK registrations of the G6 in its first 10 months on sale, compared to 24,298 for the Tesla Model Y.
Sales in Europe were more impressive, but the Model Y remains the best-selling electric vehicle in many parts of the world, as well as the second most popular in China.
The L03 may be edging closer to ‘Tesla killer’ status, but it feels like Xpeng still has a mountain to climb when it comes to convincing customers that it offers a superior EV ownership experience.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
