Xpeng has announced the most expensive car ever. Here are pictures of Xpeng’s two previously released models at a store in Shanghai, China in July 2021, a P7 Wing Limited Edition in green and a G3 SUV in blue.
Kilai Shen Bloomberg | Getty Images
BEIJING – Chinese electric car start-up Xpeng has unveiled its most expensive car to date, marking the company’s foray into the high-end price range.
The automaker’s shares briefly fell more than 15% in Hong Kong trading on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, Xpeng announced that its new car, the G9 SUV, will be priced from 309,900 yuan ($44,270) to 469,000 yuan. Deliveries to China are set to begin in October, the company said.
The price range makes Xpeng’s latest vehicle generally cheaper than this fall’s new SUV offerings from Nio and Li Auto. Nio’s ES7 sells for 468,000 yuan to 548,000 yuan, while Li Auto’s Li 9 is priced at 459,800 yuan.
The G9 is also cheaper than Tesla’s Model Y, a mid-size SUV that starts at 316,900 yuan.
But Xpeng’s previous cars have been priced in a much lower range.
The company’s best seller to date, the P7 sedan is priced between 239,900 yuan and 387,900 yuan depending on the driving range. The company’s other sedan, the P5, can be had for as little as 179,900 yuan.
Xpeng’s original SUV, now available as an upgraded model called the G3i, runs from 181,900 yuan to 201,900 yuan.
For comparison, among sedans, the Neo sells from 328,000 yuan to 536,000 yuan. Tesla’s Model 3 starts at 279,900 yuan after applicable subsidies.
BYD, the dominant local leader in China’s electric car market, sells at an even lower price range. The company’s popular Han sedan goes from 214,800 yuan to 329,800 yuan after subsidies.
Together, BYD’s Qin, Han and Dolphin cars made up the top five best-selling new energy passenger cars in China in the first eight months of the year, according to the China Passenger Car Association. That list did not include SUVs.
Tesla’s Model 3 ranked sixth, while Xpeng’s P7 ranked 10th, association data showed.
One of Xpeng’s selling points is its assisted-driving software. This week, the company announced it was rolling out the latest version of the software — which covers urban conditions in addition to highways — to some users in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
In addition to the assisted-driving software, the G9 features fast battery charging and what Xpeng calls “an immersive 5D experience” for watching movies and listening to music in the car. The company claims that after revealing the in-car experience in August, it received over 20,000 pre-orders for the G9 within the first 24 hours of availability.
“We are very confident that this G9 will be a very popular SUV in its class,” Brian Gu, Xpeng president and honorary vice chairman, said in an interview with CNBC’s Eunice Yun this week.
“We think volumes for the G9 next year will exceed what we achieved for the P7, making it one of our top selling cars,” he said.
