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    XPeng is the latest Chinese brand to set sights on right-hand drive

    XPeng, like its countrymen Nio and HiPhi, will manufacture electric vehicles in right-hand drive for the UK market. Could they come here, too?

    William Stopford

    William Stopford

    News Editor

    William Stopford

    William Stopford

    News Editor

    XPeng is yet another Chinese electric vehicle (EV) brand planning a European launch, but it’s also planning to enter the UK – and that means right-hand drive production.

    Automotive News Europe reports company president Brian Gu has confirmed the G6 SUV will be the brand’s first right-hook model, and will be introduced in the UK during 2024.

    Also set for export markets – if not yet confirmed for right-hand drive – are the mid-sized P7 sedan and G9 SUV.

    The XPeng name may not be familiar to those outside of China, but the young company – only founded in 2015 – has already captured the attention of industry giant Volkswagen.

    The German juggernaut has tapped XPeng to jointly design two “fully connected” mid-sized electric vehicles (EVs) to supplement its existing MEB-based EVs in China. They’re due by early 2026.

    These will use the G9’s Edward platform, which pre-dates the Smart Electric Platform Architecture (SEPA) 2.0 that underpins the G6.

    XPeng has been exporting vehicles to Europe since 2021, starting – as other Chinese brands have done – with the EV-hungry Norwegian market.

    The company has grown rapidly to be publicly listed on both the NYSE and the Hong Kong stock exchanges.

    In addition to the Tesla Model 3-rivalling P7, Model Y-rivalling G6 and the G9, which sits between the Model Y and Model X in size, XPeng produces two other models.

    The P5 is a small sedan launched in 2021 which XPeng claims was the first mass-produced vehicle in the world to offer LiDAR, while the older, 2018-vintage G3 is roughly the same size as a BYD Atto 3.

    XPeng isn’t the only Chinese brand to recently announce right-hand drive production.

    Nio, another EV startup, will produce its Model 3-rivalling ET5 in right-hand drive for the UK market, while Human Horizons (aka HiPhi) has also confirmed it’s working on RHD production.

    MORE: Brand overview: XPeng 

    William Stopford

    William Stopford

    News Editor

    William Stopford

    News Editor

    William Stopford is an automotive journalist based in Brisbane, Australia. William is a Business/Journalism graduate from the Queensland University of Technology who loves to travel, briefly lived in the US, and has a particular interest in the American car industry.

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