Xpeng has launched its new large five-seat flagship SUV, the G9L, in China, with six variants priced between 231,800 and 309,800 yuan (about $32,700-$43,600, Chinese guide price before taxes and incentives). The company's CEO, He Xiaopeng, said the model is designed to be a global vehicle and targets top-three sales in its segment worldwide.
Product details and positioning
According to PCauto, the G9L was developed over three years alongside the GX, sharing more than 90% of the lower body with the GX but featuring a newly developed upper body. He Xiaopeng said the G9L is a native large five-seat model, not a simple conversion of the GX's six-seat layout. The vehicle is positioned for urban family users and luxury-car replacement buyers, with the main variants priced between 250,000 and 300,000 yuan.
The G9L offers both pure electric and extended-range (EREV, a plug-in hybrid with a range-extender engine) versions. The EREV variant has a CLTC pure-electric range of 430 km (about 366 km WLTP est.) (about 267 miles) and a combined CLTC range of 1,602 km (about 995 miles). It comes with a 5C fast-charging battery, which allows rapid charging speeds. He Xiaopeng noted that the EREV option addresses markets with less developed charging infrastructure, such as overseas regions and northern China.
Global expansion and technology ambitions
Xpeng plans to launch the G9L globally at the Paris Motor Show on October 12, with deliveries in over 60 countries from October to December. The vehicle will initially be produced at a plant in Graz, Austria, with additional facilities in Indonesia and Malaysia. He Xiaopeng said the G9L is designed for both left- and right-hand drive and two- or four-wheel drive, and has undergone 6.74 million kilometers of global testing across 26 countries.
He also highlighted the second-generation VLA (Vision-Language-Action) system in the G9L, claiming it outperforms Tesla's FSD (Full Self-Driving) on European and Australian roads. The system requires minimal local data fine-tuning due to its strong generalization capabilities. Xpeng plans to push the distilled VLA 2.0 to existing Orin-X vehicles in batches starting in the fourth quarter of this year.
Regarding humanoid robots, He Xiaopeng said the development difficulty is about 20 times that of building cars, and the company aims to mass-produce and deliver its robot globally by the end of December 2026. He noted that the robot shares about 70% of its backend technology with the car platform.
He also mentioned ongoing cooperation with Volkswagen, saying both companies have learned from each other, and Xpeng is open to more partnerships in technology and chips. The company plans to expand its open platform initiatives next year.
