China’s XPeng to land first electric vehicles in Australia this year
Another major Chinese EV brand, Xpeng, has announced plans to launch the first of its growing electric vehicle fleet in Australia this year, with the first electric SUV due to land in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Xpeng said on Thursday that it has partnered with a local distributor, TrueEV, which will be importing, distributing and retailing the technology-focused EV brand in Australia. It is similar to an arrangement that another China EV maker BYD has with EVDirect.
“This collaboration represents a significant leap forward in the Australian range of intelligent EVs available and will be supported with the roll out of superior charging technology and capability,” Jason Clarke, CEO of TrueEV said, said in a statement.
“We are confident that XPeng’s product range and design features are ideally suited to the Australian market.”
The first model to be offered under the new partnership is the sleek G6 electric SUV, which was first introduced at the Shanghai Auto Show last year and has been very popular in the local Chinese market. It was recently released in Norway at the equivalent of around $A58,000, a similar price to the Tesla Model Y.
Xpeng has been looking in recent months at releasing a right-hand-drive model with news emerging of it heading to Singapore and potentially to other international markets in its efforts to become a global player. The Xpeng is now available to order in four countries in Europe – Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands
“By entering new markets strategically and offering a range of EV models tailored to local customer needs, we aim to solidify our brand position as a leading player in the smart EV sector on a global scale,” said Alex Tang, Xpeng’s GM of International Markets.
The G6 is a very important car for the brand given Xpeng has incorporated various new production method innovations to reduce costs while improving the vehicle’s manufacturing process.
This includes a die-casted front and rear integrated aluminium body as well as the packaging of the battery. On top of that the battery pack is attached to the vehicle using a cell-integrated body technology which helps with better space management inside the cabin of the car.
On the specs front, the single-motor models of the Xpeng G6 deliver up to 218 kW of power while the dual-motor high-performance variant can deliver up to 368 kW.
The G6 SUV is also the first model from the brand to be based on its latest 800 Volts EV architecture, allowing for 300 km of range to be added in 10 minutes at the right DC fast charger.
Now with the brands plans to bring the G6 into the Australian market, it’s sure to shake things up a bit in the electric SUV segment.
Pricing and specifications of the local models are likely to be released closer to the official launch.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
