The XPENG G6: a new Chinese electric SUV

DW (English)

The Chinese carmaker XPENG is expected to release its new G6 electric SUV on the market this August. Can it compete with the Tesla Model Y and others in that segment? REV puts it to the test.

Transcript

00:00Today's test car is very well suited for a power nap.

00:04The new XPeng G6, a purely electric Chinese SUV that aims to compete with Tesla Model Y

00:11and others in that segment.

00:13How it performs, we'll check out right now.

00:15Welcome to Rev.

00:17One amongst the many Chinese EV makers that's made it to Europe recently,

00:22XPeng has made a mark with EVs that look good and tend to deliver more range than promised.

00:28But just what are they like to drive?

00:33The general driving impression in the G6 is really good.

00:38Way better than I would have expected for a Chinese car.

00:41You have very few wind noises.

00:44The noises of the tyres are also completely okay.

00:48So you have a very smooth and comfortable ride that you can expect from German manufacturer SUVs.

00:56The G6 has two different battery packs on offer, 66 and 87.5 kilowatt hours.

01:03The top version that we're testing is a 350 kilowatt all-wheel drive version

01:10with an 87.5 kilowatt hour battery and a range of around 550 kilometers according to WLTP.

01:18Now we all know WLTP is not exactly always a measure for everyday usability.

01:26Oftentimes you will get less range.

01:29But that is not true for XPeng cars.

01:33In a test conducted by the Norwegian Automobile Federation,

01:36the G9 and P7 achieved ranges that were 13 and 10 percent higher than their WLTPs respectively.

01:44But back to the G6.

01:46The entry-level version is a 190 kilowatt electric engine at the rear

01:52with a 66 kilowatt hour battery giving it a range of around 435 kilometers according to WLTP.

02:07The maximum range you can get for the G6 is the medium version that is also rear-wheel driven

02:13but has the bigger battery and 20 kilowatts more than the entry-level version.

02:18570 is what the manufacturer claims according to WLTP.

02:23So it should at least be that, maybe even a little bit more.

02:33The acceleration is a little more than four seconds for the powerful version that we test

02:39but still under seven seconds for the entry-level version.

02:42The top speed, by the way, is the same for all cars.

02:46200 kilometers an hour which is way faster than, for example, VW or Skoda cars.

02:52Of course, if you compare that to Tesla, depending on the version you get,

02:56that will drive way more than 200 kilometers an hour.

02:59But 200 is a very good figure, I think.

03:03And the G6 is part of the elite 800 volt EV tech circle.

03:09Let's talk about charging because in that aspect the G6 is also very, very good

03:15due to its 800 volt technology.

03:18Usually most other cars in that segment have 400 volts technology.

03:23The 800 volts is quite unique.

03:26And it doesn't matter whether you have the small 66 kilowatt hour battery

03:31or the bigger 87.5 kilowatt hours which, by the way, are net figures.

03:37So it's usable energy.

03:40And no matter which one you have, it will charge from 10 to 80 percent in 20 minutes.

03:46And that is really quick.

03:48Usually the 10 to 80 percent mark is around half an hour.

03:54The X-Peng G6's performance is also rather nimble and can hit the ton in just over four seconds.

04:02But do the insides meet our testers' expectations?

04:06The interior of the G6 is absolutely clean.

04:10You have no buttons at all in the middle.

04:13You have that huge touch screen.

04:15And that is also a thing you have to adjust the climate control with the touch screen.

04:24I don't like that.

04:25I'm not a fan of that.

04:27But, and that is a very clever solution by X-Peng.

04:31You can adjust the temperature with that roll right here.

04:37So simply putting it up and down will adjust the temperature to your liking.

04:42And that way you can do that without taking your eyes from the road,

04:46which is always a problem with touch screen use

04:48because you can't use touch screen without looking at it.

04:51Another thing is the vents.

05:01You can't adjust those manually.

05:05You have to do that via the touch screen as well.

05:08On the other hand, of course, you do that once and then you won't have to do that again.

05:13So it's okay.

05:14But the way it works, I mean, you press the vent you want to use

05:19and then you can swipe left, right, up, down.

05:22And you will have an animation that will show you where the airflow is approximately going.

05:26It would have been easier to just have it manually adjustable.

05:35The steering wheel is okay.

05:38It is flattened on the top and at the bottom.

05:40So it's not exactly round.

05:42The design is okay.

05:45I have seen better.

05:46I have seen worse.

05:48Behind the steering wheel, you have that lever that will allow you to put the car into drive

05:53or reverse and parking.

05:55One thing I would have wanted, though, is the adjustment of the recuperation.

05:59It is not possible with the steering wheel.

06:02You have to do that via the touch screen.

06:05Then again, on the other hand, probably you will set it to one setting,

06:09either low, medium, high or for one pedal drive.

06:13And then you will keep it in that setting and not change it very often.

06:18But pedals behind the steering wheel, like you have with many other manufacturers,

06:22would have been a nice addition to that.

06:26And the G6 has a few neat tricks up its sleeves, too.

06:31What you can also see is that the car does not have door handles.

06:35Instead, it has a button that you press, then the door pops open.

06:38That is also quite good in terms of safety,

06:41because if the car recognizes that someone comes from behind,

06:44then it will warn you and the door will not directly open.

06:54In the middle, you will find two wireless charging spots that also have a cooling.

06:59So you have these little vents that will blow air under the phone to keep it cool while charging,

07:04because sometimes those tend to get quite hot while wirelessly charging.

07:09And down here, you have two USB slots, USB-A and USB-C,

07:14to charge your smartphone if it doesn't support wireless charging.

07:21The adjustment of the side view mirrors is also done via the touchscreen,

07:26or at least you have to start the process of adjustment via the touchscreen.

07:31And then you can do the actual adjustment with the buttons at the steering wheel.

07:37Since you usually only do that once and then it is kept with your driver profile, it is okay.

07:44But finding that is not as easy as having it in the door like it used to be with most other cars.

07:55The G6 also has a 950-watt sound system, which is really, really good.

08:03Let's just listen to it.

08:07Wow!

08:24Crazy! I really like it.

08:26I mean, if you don't have sound with an electric car,

08:29then at least you will have some very, very good sounding music.

08:37Wow!

08:39The space in the back is ample.

08:42As you can tell, there is a lot of legroom,

08:44huge headroom left and a very nice view through the panoramic glass roof.

08:50Unfamiliar with the XPeng brand?

08:52Well, our testers got a quick history lesson for you.

08:59The brand XPeng is by no means new.

09:02It was founded in 2014, so 10 years old.

09:06The first car came out in 2018, the G3,

09:11which was a rather small car, but for the Chinese market.

09:14And then in 2021 and 2022, they came to Europe with Norway, Denmark,

09:21the Netherlands and other markets that were very well known

09:25for their good amount of purely electric vehicles.

09:30So they wanted to see how will the customers react to a Chinese car.

09:35And in fact, it worked out really good.

09:39The G9 was a big battery electric SUV.

09:43And in 2023, the G9 had a market share of more than 8%,

09:50which earned XPeng the third place in Norway for big battery electric SUVs,

09:56just behind Audi and BYD and even ahead of Mercedes and Skoda.

10:04Perhaps their pricing has something to do with it.

10:10Another thing that is very good about the G6 is the fact that everything is included.

10:18We're talking about the huge touchscreen.

10:20We're talking about the panoramic glass roof, about the seats, about everything.

10:25The only thing that you can get optional are different colors.

10:28For example, that orange, it's not standard.

10:30Standard is white and a deployable tow bar.

10:34And that's it.

10:36And I think that is quite an interesting approach.

10:39And considering the prices, that is very, very surprising that everything is included.

10:52Just as most other manufacturers nowadays,

10:55you will also get a smartphone app that you can use to unlock the vehicle and drive it.

11:02But you can also find it or honk the horn or preheat or pre-cool it.

11:10The entry-level G6 has a starting price of around €43,000 in Germany,

11:16while the top-end version costs around €51,000.

11:20All XPeng cars achieved five-star ratings in the Euro NCAP crash test,

11:25and even though the results for the G6 are not yet in, it will probably do just the same.

11:32To sum up my G6 experience, I really, really enjoyed driving the car.

11:38There are very nice features.

11:40It has some minor flaws, but which car doesn't nowadays?

11:45And considering that it is fully equipped for a price starting at around €43,000,

11:52that is a really, really good offer.

11:54I think one that most manufacturers cannot compete with,

11:59especially if you consider how good-looking the car is.

12:03The G6 is a sporty-looking, design-oriented SUV with a very good range and top-notch charging

12:09capabilities.

12:10Unfortunately, some features such as manual adjustment of the air vents

12:14and steering wheel buttons for the level of recuperation

12:17fell victim to the modern era's love of digitalization.

12:21So, what do you think of the G6?

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