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Xpeng is finally shipping the P7, China’s Tesla Model 3 rival
The Xpeng P7 is cheaper and has a longer range than Tesla’s most affordable electric vehicle
Xpeng has been fending off accusations that it stole autonomous driving tech from Tesla
Tesla is best known as the leading electric vehicle maker worldwide. But it’s also seen enormous success in China, selling more new energy vehicles than any other company in China last month. Now a local challenger has a new vehicle taking on the Tesla Model 3, and it bests the American company’s cars on both price and range.
Chinese EV startup Xpeng announced on Sunday that it’s started nationwide deliveries of its newest P7 sports sedan, which starts at a price of 229,900 yuan (US$32,470) after subsidies. The Tesla Model 3 starts at 271,550 yuan (US$38,350) after subsidies.
The P7 also boasts a longer driving range on a single charge. Xpeng says the P7 can reach 706 kilometers, compared with 668 kilometers for the Model 3.
While Xpeng is just one of many local Tesla wannabes trying to corner the EV market, it has a more bitter rivalry with Tesla than other competitors. Tesla has previously accused the company of procuring trade secrets, which the company denies.
Outside just vehicles, the Guangzhou-based automaker might be hoping its sales and services network will help give it a boost. The company says it has 190 stores across 57 cities in China.
Nevertheless, dethroning Tesla could be an uphill battle. The Model 3 has proven popular in China, where Tesla started producing the car at its Shanghai Gigafactory at the end of last year. In May, the Palo Alto, California-based company beat out all its rivals in China by selling 11,095 vehicles, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Another area in which Xpeng hopes to rival Tesla is self-driving cars. The P7 comes with Xpeng’s XPILOT 3.0 autonomous driving architecture. But autonomous driving was at the heart of Tesla’s complaints against Chinese EV maker.
Last year, Tesla accused its former employee Cao Guangzhi of stealing trade secrets and bringing them to Xpeng. Apple made a similar accusation about its own former employee Zhang Xiaolang. While Cao was placed on leave during the investigation, Zhang wound up being fired after criminal charges were filed against him in the US.
Cao admitted that he uploaded Tesla’s Autopilot-related source code to his own drive, but he denied that the files contained trade secrets or that he handed them over to Tesla’s Chinese rival. Xpeng said it had nothing to do with the incident.
In the latest chapter of the companies’ ongoing legal battle, a federal judge in California ruled at the beginning of June that Xpeng needs to produce the source code for its autonomous driving tech and log files that Tesla requested.
Legal challenges aside, Xpeng is racing ahead with plans for an initial public offering in the US, according to reports published earlier this month. The company declined to comment on the matter. Xpeng said it raised US$400 million in new financing last year, with IDG Capital, Xiaomi and South China Morning Post owner Alibaba among its biggest backers.