"The first sport utility vehicle (SUV) in the Xpeng 'Mona (MONA)' line, the 'L03,' was benchmarked against Ferrari, and its charging is faster than Tesla."
Xpeng, an electric-vehicle maker dubbed the "Chinese Tesla," is accelerating its push into global markets by launching the L03, its first mass-market SUV, following the success of its budget sedan, the "M03." Despite being in the 150,000-yuan (about 34 million won) range, it features high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) Autonomous Driving technology, a strategy to popularize AI Autonomous Driving functions that had been limited to high-end cars.
Xpeng unveiled the Mona L03 and began taking preorders at 7 p.m. on the 2nd (local time) at "Langyuan Station" in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The venue for the new model launch, Langyuan Station, is a former railway facility turned into a cultural and commercial space and is a "hot place" popular with young people in Beijing recently.
About 20 L03 vehicles were on display at the event, and members of the public could visit freely without preregistration. From children to older adults, visitors got into the vehicles to look around the interiors and take photos, and the venue was crowded with spectators late into the night.
Mona is the mass-market line that has recently been driving Xpeng's sales growth. According to the company, the Mona M03 electric sedan, launched last year, surpassed 280,000 cumulative deliveries roughly 600 days after launch, with average monthly sales of more than 13,000 units. Xiaopeng He, Xpeng chairman and chief executive, said, "As a result, the M03 has ranked No. 1 in sales of pure electric sedans in the 100,000–200,000-yuan range for 22 consecutive months." Leveraging the first Mona SUV launch, Xpeng plans to expand the lineup and use AI technology to broaden its footprint in global markets.
◇ "Benchmarking a Ferrari SUV… charging speed is faster than Tesla"
Xpeng directly compared the L03 with the Ferrari SUV "Purosangue." It said it raised completeness by referencing Purosangue's design elements, including body lines, hidden window molding, frameless doors and flush side glass. He said, "The Ferrari SUV Purosangue we referenced was designed directly by JuanMa, who currently oversees Xpeng design."
In the process, He personally pushed back against rumors that JuanMa had left Xpeng. Recently, online in China there were rumors that JuanMa had left Xpeng's design team for a competitor, but He said, "JuanMa is still in charge of design at Xpeng and has never left the company."
Xpeng also explicitly mentioned Tesla's "Model Y" at the venue, claiming its vehicle charges faster. He said, "In an actual comparison test between the L03 and Tesla's Model Y, under 3C fast-charging from 10% to 80%, the Model Y took 25 minutes and the L03 took 18 minutes, so the L03 charged 7 minutes faster."
◇ "A driving experience on par with the 100 million won class in the 30 million won range"… exports to 64 countries begin
What Xpeng emphasized most in the announcement was "AI." The company said it is the first in the industry to equip a 150,000-yuan-class SUV with up to 1,500 TOPS (1,500 trillion operations per second) of in-vehicle AI compute. It said this enables a driving-assist experience comparable to vehicles in the 500,000-yuan (about 113.5 million won) range.
A notable point is that the company also launched an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) model in addition to a pure electric vehicle (EV). It is seen as a strategy to broaden choices from its previously EV-centered lineup to target a variety of consumer needs.
The L03 is Xpeng's first global strategic model, designed from the early stages with global markets in mind. The company said it developed the vehicle to meet safety standards in China, Europe and Australia, and that it took into account extreme cold in Northern Europe, extreme heat in the Middle East, high-speed driving on Germany's autobahn and rough-road conditions in Southeast Asia. It added, "Safety is not a value reserved for luxury cars but a basic that every vehicle should have."
Xpeng plans to hold a global launch event in Munich, Germany, on the 16th and begin sales in 64 countries and regions. He said, "This is not a model with minor country-specific tweaks but a vehicle built for global markets from the start," adding, "By next year, you will be able to find the L03 in many countries around the world."