XPENG Inc., a ‘physical AI’ company, held its G9L China Launch Event in Beijing on 18 September, where it announced that the G9L would be available in 64 global markets, with a global launch event set to take place at the Paris Motor Show on 12 October.
The G9L is XPENG’s next-generation AI flagship SUV. It will be available both as a battery electric vehicle (BEV) and a range-extended electric vehicle (REEV). XPENG is positioning the G9L as a premium model that will include the company’s latest innovations in physical AI, with features such as smart driving and an intelligent cockpit.
The G9L will be powered by XPENG VLA 2.0 and feature the same Turing AI chip as the company’s humanoid robot IRON.
XPENG says it is important to the company to design a ‘global car’, meaning that the vehicle must meet global safety and quality standards. Further, the company’s R&D has to adapt to the requirements of different markets and bring industry-leading technologies to consumers around the world.
XPENG says the G9L meets the design standards of four major five-star safety ratings worldwide. It has completed 192 crash tests across four key protocols (Euro NCAP, ANCAP, C-NCAP, and CIASI), totalling more than 110 individual test items. Over the course of a three-year test period, the vehicle has been tested in 26 countries and regions, completing a total mileage of more than 6.74 million kilometres.
The electric powertrain is designed to cope with extreme environments.
At the domestic launch event, He Xiaopeng, the company’s Chairman and CEO, also discussed the company’s latest updates about its humanoid robot, having commissioned the world’s first automated production line for advanced general-purpose robots.
He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPENG, said:We believe in 'car as robot', over the past few years, we have built an in-house AI foundation based on our work in AI cars and humanoid robots, and it powers both.
Production of the G9L will initially take place in Guangzhou, China, and Graz, Austria. It is the fourth XPENG model – after the G6, G9 and P7+ – to be produced at contract manufacturer Magna’s plant in Austria, where it shares the same lines and factory as some European vehicle models.
XPENG announced its cooperation agreement with Magna a year ago. Since then it has used Magna’s well-established production lines to assemble locally in Europe, launching four models within a 12-month period.
At the conclusion of the Chinese launch event, Mr He also announced that the global launch would take place at the Paris Motor Show in France, where XPENG will have a booth in Hall 6. This launch is the first step of rolling out the G9L to 64 countries and regions.
