This past week, I travelled to Hong Kong for the ‘Global Media Night’ of a carmaker. But not one you’ve likely heard of. They’re called XPENG or ‘Xiopeng’ in Chinese, named after their founder He Xiopeng. And this 11-year old company, founded in a garage in Guangzhou, blew me away.
XPENG is China’s seventh-largest ‘New Energy Vehicle’ (NEV) manufacturer, and the fastest growing ‘new’ player, having started manufacturing cars just five years ago. They sold 190,068 cars in China in 2024, a growth of 34 percent over the previous year. However, when you look at their market capitalisation of US$17.3 billion, you would scratch your head. What XPENG is doing with a fraction of Chinese (and global) EV leader BYD’s market capitalisation of $145 billion and Chinese domestic sales of 4.27 million units, is quite amazing. For reference Tata Motors market capitalisation is currently $26 billion.
And as an Indian, slightly depressing if I’m honest.
Take the XPENG X9, the large Multi-Purpose Vehicle whose 2025 model was launched at the global media night. A set of features and technology that would astound anyone—the middle row of seats had an ‘anti-gravity’ function to simulate feeling weightless and by far the most amazing massage function I’ve ever experienced.
The feature that I loved was the ‘soft breeze’ air-conditioning system which uses perforated holes on the sides of the roof to blow cool air through the cabin much, much more evenly than the vents that you are used to. Small innovation maybe, but one that makes a world of difference to passenger comfort. And for a van, this was a good-looking one.
The top-specification had a 118kW battery, an energy efficiency of 93.5 per cent—which is unheard of, as most EVs have an efficiency in the 80-85 range. It also boasts a China certified range of 720 kilometres, and the 235kW (315PS) motor could take this van from 0-100 km/h in 7.7 seconds. All this with a dual air-suspension, your standard panoramic roof, a huge 21-inch drop-down screen for the rear passengers.
But here is the shocker, all this for 419,800 Renminbi in mainland China. That is around Rs 49 lakh.
If the XPENG X9 was imported to India, it would cost more or less the same as the Kia’s new EV9 MPV, which has a price tag of Rs 1.35 crore. And frankly, in terms of size, features and performance on paper, the Chinese are way ahead. And I say that after actually liking the EV9.
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Innovation beyond measure
At the event I spent a lot of time chatting with automotive journalists from other nations. Felix Hamer, an automotive blogger from the Netherlands told me that XPENG is growing rapidly in Europe. “Their cars are considered premium compared to BYD and products like the G6 and G9 SUVs are extremely good value and great to drive as well. They are all capable of extremely rapid charging, offer the latest features and have very nice interiors, better than you get in a more expensive German car.” Others told me that the new P7 sedan from XPENG, where Porsche helped them develop the handling, is vastly superior to other Chinese rivals as well.
In fact, in China itself, XPENG is considered a premium brand, competing not with BYD, Geely or Wuling (this is Shanghai Automotive’s main brand in China—they sell under the MG marque in India) but with Tesla. And for good reason, XPENG is the leading Chinese carmaker developing ‘Full Self Driving’ or FSD, which remains Tesla’s ace. In demonstration videos shown to me at the event, XPENG cars could manage Level 3 autonomous driving, which still requires a person behind the wheel but without the need for ‘high-definition’ maps. What was impressive though was a left-hand steering XPENG vehicle coming into Hong Kong, which like India has right-hand steering, and learning how to drive by itself, even dealing with roundabouts.
Brian Gu, Vice-Chairman, XPENG, just landed from India after having spent a week in the country on the night of the event. “To be honest we hadn’t spent much time on the Indian market, but this trip opened my eyes to the vast potential of the market. While we do not have a timetable planned yet, overall in the long-term India is a market for our EVs and future mobility products,” he said.
Now, what are those ‘future mobility products’ Gu spoke about? Last year you might have seen videos of a small, two-person six-rotor aircraft deploying from the back of a large SUV. That was the XPENG AeroHT X1. And that is not a concept anymore. XPENG is productionising it next year with a promise of 20 minute flight time and a range of 20 kilometers. While one will require an additional license to fly this, XPENG claims you can master operations in three hours.
This isn’t truly a ‘flying car’ but the first step on the way and it could be yours for $300,000. The company already has pre-orders of 4,000 units. My brain went into overdrive just thinking of the battlefield potential of these, because XPENG ominously calls the carrying vehicle the ‘Land Aircraft Carrier’.
You would think that would be enough for a company—great cars which can drive themselves, and a two-person rotorcraft that attaches to a car. Nope. He Xiopeng informed the cheering audience that later this year the company would start to rollout their in-house AI chipsets, with performance to match Nvidia and Tesla AI chips. They have called their AI system and AI chipset ‘Turing’ after the British mathematician who played a pivotal role in cracking the German Enigma code in World War 2.
And will AI just be deployed on cars and flying rotorcraft? No, these guys are also developing a humanoid robot that can ‘work’ on factory floors. And that goes on sale next year. I left Hong Kong utterly flabbergasted. Sure, I do believe India has some start-ups doing innovative deeptech. But this one company is smashing not just India, but the rest of the world, out of the park with their developments. So much so that German giant Volkswagen is using XPENG technology to develop their next China electric architecture (that even VW India wants to use).
Chinese companies are well beyond the ‘cheap’ moniker, they’re building the latest and greatest products out there. The visit was a reality check.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Poor, socialist, unintelligent India says self -driving cars, and flying cars are not welcome. Coutesy—socialist politicians.