- Xpeng GX began pre-sales on April 15, with the price set at 399,800 yuan ($58,820).
- The model will compete with the Nio ES8, Li L9, and Huawei-backed Aito M9 in China's crowded premium SUV market.
Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) will officially launch its new GX model on May 20, and the full-size flagship sport utility vehicle (SUV) will be its most expensive offering.
Several Chinese auto media outlets reported the date. Xpeng has not yet mentioned this arrangement through its official channels, but said on Weibo on Monday that there will be a launch event for the GX next week.
The Xpeng GX began pre-sales on April 15, with the pre-sales price set at 399,800 yuan ($58,820).
The upcoming launch of the GX model marks Xpeng's further expansion into the high-end luxury market, which is of great significance for improving the company's overall profitability.
The company's current sales are mainly contributed by affordable models, especially the Mona M03 sedan, and the GX will play a crucial role in exploring the premium market with higher gross margins.
Xpeng's chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said in a video on Monday that the company's original intention in building the GX was to create a car for himself and his friends that can be fully trusted in all scenarios.
The car integrates top-tier technology reserves and features a large number of debut technologies, Mr. He said.
The GX is also a vehicle geared towards the future and the new generation of autonomous driving, and will achieve autonomous roaming and smart driving in underground garages without signals or lane markings for the first time, he said.
After its launch, the new car will compete with Nio Inc's (NYSE: NIO) Nio ES8, Li Auto's (NASDAQ: LI) Li L9, and the Huawei-backed Aito M9 in China's crowded premium SUV market.
In terms of powertrain, the Xpeng GX continues the company's dual-power strategy, offering both battery electric vehicle (BEV) and extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) versions to alleviate users' range anxiety.
The new car is built on the new SEPA 3.0 (Smart Electric Platform Architecture 3.0) and designed according to L4 autonomous driving standards, Xpeng previously said.
The Xpeng GX is equipped with three of the company's in-house developed Turing AI driving chips, which have an effective computing power of 2,250 TOPS and support the advanced Vision-Language-Action (VLA) AI model.
($1 = 6.7966 yuan)
