Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng offers a range of smart EVs that focus on performance, sustainability and safety while also offering advanced technology for drivers and passengers.
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At present the company sells vehicles in several European countries and the UK (at present only the G6 SUV is offered in the UK), with plans for further expansion. Xpeng has already launched in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and now the UK.
Xpeng’s UK strategy involves aiming for a gradual presence in the premium EV segment. The OEM plans to achieve this by establishing a dealership network, while focusing on building trust and brand awareness for buyers – and focusing on its smart technology brand attributes.
We spoke to William Brown, Xpeng’s MD for UK and Ireland, to learn more about this strategy and Xpeng’s vehicle offering.
Just Auto (JA): When looking at Xpeng’s UK strategy could you discuss product rollout, dealership experience and service infrastructure?
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By GlobalDataWilliam Brown (WB): The first product to be introduced to the UK market is the Xpeng G6. That’s primarily because it’s their first global product that they can sell into any market in the world. In the UK, the vehicles are right-hand drive as opposed to left-hand drive. Xpeng has been selling vehicles in Europe for about four years, but that was left-hand drive products.
Product rollout
With the global strategy, the basic aim is to start selling products into as many markets as possible across the globe. It’s great to have the G6 because we think it’s the perfect vehicle to get people to understand a bit about the Xpeng brand and product. It fits in the most accessible place for EVs, which is C/D segment, a family size vehicle at a reasonable price point.
That’s the first product that we’re launching in the UK, and we’re just rolling that out now. The next product that will be coming to us will be early next year, sometime in the first half – specific timeline still to be confirmed – will be the X9 which is exciting because it’s Xpeng’s flagship model. It’s on sale in China and it’s just been launched in Hong Kong.
With the global strategy, the basic aim is to start selling products into as many markets as possible across the globe.
The X9 will be the halo model for the brand, and that will further explain to customers about Xpeng as a tech brand.
The next one after that is another model that’s already on sale in European markets, the G9. The current model on sale in Europe is due to be replaced with a new version. I understand it’s a new model of the G9, not a facelift or update.
The G9 sells very well in Europe, particularly in northern Europe, and that is a D-segment premium SUV. The closest competitor would be something like the Kia EV9.
We’ve got other models coming and I can’t go into the specifics of those models at the moment, but there’s potentially another model that will be launched in 2026.
Dealership experience
We’re taking a slightly slower approach than other Chinese entrants. We’ve aimed for about twenty retailers this year, and we’re taking our time to pick partners that are really enthusiastic about EVs and our technology.
Some brands are appointing as many dealers as possible to get great coverage in the UK. Obviously, that’s convenient for customers, but we haven’t taken that approach.
We get to meet the people in the business that are going to be selling the products, and we get to take the vehicle down to them, show them the vehicle; we can see how engaged they are, how they interact with technology, ensure that they share the vision for where the Xpeng brand is going to be.
It’s early days. It’s not going to be a mass-market brand. Rather, it’s a brand that has aspirations at some point in the future to be a premium brand, but it’s really all about the technology story.
We’re very keen to try, as best we can, to explain the difference between a car company, a tech company, and a tech company that builds cars – that’s what Xpeng is. It’s quite a difficult one to explain to big audiences, but we’ll certainly have a go.
It’s also about specific dealers that are more excited about the long-term, where this can go with things like autonomous driving and how that could work in the future. There are dealers that just want to sell a piece of metal, turn it over quickly and get good volume – that’s not really the type of dealer we’re looking for.
Service infrastructure
Having twenty sales outlets for this year (we’re looking to increase that for next year), does leave a number of service coverage gaps across the UK territory.
As part of the international motors’ portfolio, we have got other brands and we’re going to use – where it’s right for those locations and partners – some of our assets around the country in terms of dealers and partners that can help with aftersales, warranty; so they become [Xpeng] service points.
We’ve already got a number of dedicated Xpeng service points that aren’t selling the vehicles, but they’re there for consumers who have got queries, any issues that they may have, and we intend to roll that out further so we can try and take some of that nervousness away, too.
When looking at the bigger picture what are the short-term and longer-term goals for Xpeng?
The new Chinese entrants are moving at a speed that’s unprecedented in terms of when the Koreans or the Japanese brought products to market decades ago. It is much quicker than anybody had anticipated.
The short-term goal for Xpeng, between one and five years, is that, assuming we have various Chinese brands selling products in the UK, the expectation is that Xpeng gets recognised as the number one Chinese premium brand. In five years’ time, if we’ve got ten or twelve Chinese brands in the UK selling various products, the aim is that Xpeng is recognised to be the premium, tech-focused brand.
Then longer term, looking towards ten years, if we’ve established ourselves as a kind of leader in tech and premium among Chinese brands, then the next aim is to start to rival the established legacy premium brands – Audi, BMW etc.
That’s a very difficult area of the market to penetrate, but the exciting thing about EVs is we believe customers are not as fixed or as loyal to existing brands, because it’s a different proposition from an ICE vehicle. An EV vehicle is much more about how technology integrates with day-to-day life, and so we’re quite excited and we think EV is an opportunity to, potentially, take some of those customers that are maybe used to those established premium brands and get them to look at Chinese brands.
With the technology that we’ve got on the car and in the pipeline, Xpeng will be a clear technology leader in automotive
At the moment it’d be probably difficult to get Xpeng on the consideration list of somebody that has had BMWs, Audis and Mercedes, but I think in the future we should be able to get there.
With the technology that we’ve got on the car and in the pipeline, Xpeng will be a clear technology leader in automotive. I can’t see any of the legacy brands being able to keep up with the pace that Xpeng will be traveling at.
Do you think EV adoption will carry on growing in the UK?
The UK is probably a leader, with the exception of Norway. It’s a leader because of the government trajectory in terms of targets for 2030. I think that for manufacturers working in the UK, it focuses your business plan around keeping in line with that and where the government wants to position automotive in the UK.
At this moment in time, you can only see EV sales rising and the acceptance from consumers growing year on year. Obviously now there’s more [charging] infrastructure around that being supported.
I dare say there are going to be other incentives over the next few years to help consumers get on that journey. We’re really excited that to have a brand like Xpeng which is a new energy vehicle brand that is pretty much dedicated EV. It feels like a really good space to be in.
There are some aspects of the market that are challenging, of course, but I think that’s short-term. When we get through the 2025-2026 period, the market in 2027 is going to be completely different to how it is today and that’s what we’re focused on.
