China is packed with automotive startups. Lots are focused on EVs, but most haven’t made the jump to the global market, and many will fail before they do. One Chinese brand that is showing more international promise than most is XPENG, which launched its P7 and G9 in European markets in 2023, before introducing the G6 mid-sized SUV last year. At the time, the UK wasn’t on the list for sales. Britain is now imminent, with the G6 arriving in right-hand-drive form next month. I got to drive one of the first UK cars at an exclusive reveal ahead of the brand launch in February, and discussed the brand’s prospects with newly appointed UK Managing Director of XPENG, William Brown.
Enter The XPENG G6
I’ve already given my detailed impressions of the European XPENG G6. The UK car isn’t significantly different, apart from being right-hand drive and we will only be getting the two rear-wheel drive versions, one with a 66kWh battery and 258Ps motor, the other with an 87.5kWh battery and 285PS. But those cars boast 270 and 354 miles of WLTP range respectively, plus 215kW and 280kW charging (thanks to an 800V architecture), so the G6 offers serious long-distance driving potential. It’s also packed with technology, and clearly emulates the Tesla Model Y, while likely to undercut it in price.
The XPENG approach has been starting to pay off in Europe. The company’s sales have been going quite well in the EU countries it has entered so far (Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Spain), with 10,000 cars sold in 2024. Not exactly Tesla numbers, but a useful foundation. However, while XPENG is doing its own distribution in its EU markets, in the UK the company will be relying on specialists International Motors, which also sells GWM in Britain.
“There is a clear vision for XPENG to be a leader in future mobility,” says Brown. “We’re in the EV space now, but it will lead into things like autonomous cars, and then who knows where it could lead from there. That’s one area where we’re consistent on globally. The other area, when you compare us to other Chinese new entrants to the UK market, is we see ourselves as the premium Chinese EV brand. We realize that to compete head-to-head with the European premium automakers is going to be very difficult because of history and brand credentials. So, to start with, we aim to be number one against Chinese marques, and then we’ll move into the European space later.”
XPENG Enters A Tough Market
With the EU putting tariffs on imported Chinese EVs, but not the UK so far, Britain could be a more important market to Chinese automakers, particularly as a complement to other right-hand drive markets that are closer to China including Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand and even India. In fact, one third of the world’s countries use right-hand drive. “We realize it’s more difficult now in Europe,” says Brown. “It’s slightly easier from a legislation point of view in markets like Australia, so that’s where you see many of the right-hand drive Chinese products. They go to market there first.”
XPENG hasn’t announced UK pricing for the G6 yet. However, Brown says: “The pricing is going to be equivalent, relatively speaking, to European prices. It’s going to be a lot cheaper than the European premium brands. It’s going to be competitive with cars like the Tesla Model Y and Kia EV6 – semi premium products.”
It’s not all about list price, however, and Brown sees some limiting factors to expectations due to the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, which requires automakers to sell a percentage of BEVs (28% for 2025). “Our car will probably come under premium cars from Stellantis, for example, from a list price point of view, but where it won’t probably be as cheap is as a monthly payment,” he says. “The reason for that is because most of these legacy brands are now trying to hit those ZEV targets, so they’ve got an over ambitious list price, but then they’ll discount heavily to get the sales, whereas XPENG has no ZEV target because we’re 100% EV, so we haven’t got to discount our way to get our sales volume. That means probably, in the short term, our sales volume is going to be quite low, because we’re not going to be selling our cars on a cheap monthly payment. We’re looking at it from the long-term perspective. We get into greater EV adoption with bigger targets by 2027 and 28, by which time the brand will be established, people will know what is it’s all about, and it will be less of a race to the bottom in terms of cheap leasing deals. Demand will be more natural. We know that many of the legacy brands are selling EVs at a loss, and their profits are coming from their ICE sales. Even for Chinese brands, it’s quite difficult to be profitable.”
No UK XPENG G6 Pricing Yet
XPENG will announce its UK pricing at the official launch event on February 11th, after which customers will be able to express interest for March or April delivery. Sales will be exclusively through a traditional dealership model, however. “We should have our first dealers opening in March,” says Brown. “We’re looking to appoint about 20 dealers this year. We’re not going for huge volume numbers. Our objective is to get the brand established, get everybody to know what XPENG is all about. The early adopters, people that are really into their tech and know about EVs, will be the ones that will buy first. Then, as the market starts to normalize, with a better infrastructure, maybe we might get some sort of government incentive at some point in the future, so then we’ll have a good foundation to grow the business.”
The brand may consider some more specialist showrooms in the future, like Polestar has. “We will get to that kind of boutique place,” Brown says. “But for the moment, we’ve just got the G6. We’ve got a flagship model that will be coming, hopefully either at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year, which is the MPV. That will really get people to understand our premium goals. We’re hoping that it might be a bit disruptive in terms of being a crossover with the SUV market. It’s a seven-seater. There’s quite a few seven-seater SUVs now, but this doesn’t look like a traditional MPV styling wise. It’s quite attractive. It’s got loads of tech.”
The MPV Brown is talking about is called the X9. MPVs are popular in China. Geely brand ZEEKR launched a luxury family MPV at Auto China in 2024. There will then be an updated version of the XPENG G9 SUV that was launched in Europe in 2023 by the end of 2026, alongside another vehicle, with a fifth model joining the lineup in the second half of 2027. But XPENG will see how sales of the G6 go first.
XPENG’s Flying Future
“There might be a resurgence of interest in the UK if some good MPV EVs come to market,” says Brown. “The X9 will help with the brand message that we’re leaders in technology. The technology story with XPENG is a little bit different. They are so forward thinking. For example, flying cars are a bit mythical, and it’s probably going to be a long time before we see anything like that in the UK. But in China, that’s becoming a reality. The XPENG flying cars have gone into production. They go on sale in 2026, and they’ve got thousands of orders. That’s how far forward they are.”
“XPENG has got three flying cars in China,” says Brown. “They’ve got the X2, which works but won’t go into production. They use it at shows. They’ve got the Land Craft Carrier, which has gone into production. That’s a six-wheeler vehicle with a drone in the back that comes out of the rear. That’s on sale now in China. Then they’ve another flying vehicle that looks like a super car. It’s got wings that come out the top. That’s being tested now, then hopefully in production by 2030. They’re not just talking the talk. They’re following through.”
There are currently no plans to bring XPENG’s flying cars to the UK, but it shows the boldness of XPENG’s ambitions. “The UK is a tough marketplace to be launching an EV vehicle when you’ve got so much pressure to reach targets,” says Brown. “But we are really excited about it because we feel that the XPENG product proposition is so strong where things matter the most, like battery performance. The G6 excels in terms of charging speed and real-world mileage, and the way the vehicle technology works. We’re keen to keep making sure the vehicle is constantly updated with over-the-air updates. We want feedback from users. As the EV market evolves, this is going to be one of the brightest stars for the future in terms of premium EVs, but we appreciate it’s going to take some time, which is why we want to be careful with our launch to market.”
