► Chinese EV Xpeng launches in the UK
► Plans to have five models on sale by 2027
► CAR speaks to UK managing director
Xpeng is an automotive brand based in China, which was founded in 2014. Its full name is Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology, and it has been manufacturing and selling cars in its home market since 2018. The Chinese brand was founded by He Xiaopeng.
It’s recently ventured into Europe, entering several markets (starting with Norway, predictably) and arriving in the UK as of the first couple of months of 2025. The UK importing arm is managed by International Motors – the same business that looks after Subaru, Isuzu and Great Wall Motors imports as well as Mitsubishi’s aftersales service.
What sets Xpeng apart from all the other EV makers?
‘We would describe Xpeng more as a technology company than a car company,’ William Brown, International Motors’ UK director tells us. ‘A technology company that knows how to build really well-designed EVs. It’s all about making sure all of the technology works first, and then building a vehicle around that.’
‘Xpeng is entirely focused on BEVs,’ says Brown. ‘With some other brands coming from China, they’ve had history with combustion cars and they’re now developing EVs. That’s not the foundation of Xpeng. We’re not looking at flooding the market with loads of EVs you can buy on a cheap lease, either.
‘The brand is very much focused on future mobility,’ Brown adds. ‘It’s always looking forward into the future to try and foresee what future mobility will look like, which seems a bit farfetched now in terms of things like flying cars and autonomous driving but the view is that, at some point, some of the parts of technology developed here will make their way into cars.’
So, as well as manufacturing and selling cars since 2018, it launched its own humanoid robot named Iron in 2024. The premise is like Honda’s Asimo, and Xpeng is currently using its Iron robot to aid in manufacturing certain car models in its factories in China.
At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, Xpeng Aero HT – the aerospace division of the overall Xpeng brand – announced a modular flying vehicle named the Land Aircraft Carrier (LAC). It’s as wild as it sounds, as the LAC happens to be part drone, part MPV.
What cars does Xpeng make?
Back in the automotive world, Xpeng has launched several battery-electric cars since 2018.
Just one is available for sale in the UK for now: the G6 SUV. Its sole model is positioned perfectly in the family EV heartland, hovering around the £45,000 mark when it officially goes on sale in February 2025.
‘After the G6, we’ll grow the brand in the UK,’ says Brown. ‘We’ve got another model coming hopefully towards the end of 2025, maybe early 2026 that will further reinforce what the Xpeng brand is all about. It won’t be a big volume SUV, but it will be quite disruptive because it will be quite good value when compared to what else you can get in the market for that type of vehicle.’
That second car is planned to be the Xpeng X9 (pictured above), a large all-electric seven seat MPV that’s packed to the brim with tech and some properly plush features. The X9 caters to a growing segment of the car market that’s also served by models like the Zeekr 09 and its Volvo EM90 cousin, as well as the Li Auto Mega. ‘We’re quite excited for that vehicle,’ says Brown, ‘because there’s a really good story behind it.’
The third car to launch in the UK market is a ‘D-segment SUV – and a new generation of a car that’s already on sale in Europe,’ according to Brown. That means we’re looking at the second-generation version of the G9 SUV (pictured above).
In the UK, Xpeng intends to have 20 dealers up and running by the end of 2025, and 40 active by 2026.