Xpeng teases G9L SUV, targeting global market

Xpeng said the G9L shares core platform technology with the GX and is developed to five-star safety standards of the world’s four major safety assessment bodies.

The five-seat SUV uses an 800-volt platform that adds 450 kilometers of range in 9 minutes.

Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) began teasing the G9L SUV (sport utility vehicle) on Monday, deepening its bet on the large SUV market after the GX flagship.

The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker calls the G9L a “global 5-seater tech flagship,” making it another SUV aimed at the global market after the GX and the Mona L03.

Xpeng said the G9L aims to be a “tech benchmark” in China’s 300,000 yuan ($44,180) segment. The company has yet to announce pricing or a launch date, but said it will release more details over time.

The G9L shares core platform technology with the GX, comes standard with aviation-grade safety redundancy design, and is developed to the five-star safety standards of the world’s four major safety assessment bodies, the company said.

Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said on Weibo on Monday that the project was approved three years ago, with the goal of building a five-seat flagship tech SUV for the global market.

Compared with 99% of the vehicles in the 300,000 yuan segment, the G9L is safer, more technologically capable and better looking, Mr. He said.

The vehicle debuts an AI-powered adaptive seat technology designed for all body types, with 91 pressure sensors built into the seats that can detect weight changes as small as 2 grams and adjust automatically to posture with one touch, he said.

Xpeng also said the G9L set the fastest moose test result in its class and comes standard with a flagship smart chassis across the lineup.

On the intelligence side, the vehicle offers up to 2,250 TOPS of effective computing power and will carry the first major upgrade to Xpeng’s second-generation Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model.

The G9L uses an 800-volt platform that Xpeng said can add 450 kilometers of range in 9 minutes.

Teaser videos also show a dual-zone refrigerator, zero-gravity seats, AI digital projection headlights, a 1,152-liter trunk and four power doors.

The G9L is 5,120 millimeters long with a 3,100-millimeter wheelbase, weighs about 2.72 tons and has a top speed of 200 km/h, according to the model’s filing with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The all-wheel-drive version uses a dual-motor setup, with front and rear motors delivering peak outputs of 160 kW and 270 kW respectively, for a combined 430 kW (577 hp).

The filings show the G9L will also come in an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) version, continuing Xpeng’s dual-powertrain strategy.

Xpeng launched the six-seat GX flagship on May 20 at a starting price of 279,800 yuan, with limited-time incentives bringing that down to 269,800 yuan.

The company delivered 38,027 vehicles globally in July, up 3.57% year-on-year but down 5.23% from June. Deliveries in the first seven months totaled 204,004 vehicles, down 12.78% from a year earlier.