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XPeng’s €35,600 L03 takes its budget EV global
XPeng has unveiled the L03, a new mass-market EV set for 60 countries with a 320-mile WLTP range and styling that invites Ferrari comparisons.
Image: Wired
XPeng has picked its first truly global mass-market EV carefully. Unveiled in Munich, the new L03 is set to launch in 60 countries across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, with pricing starting at €35,600 (about $40,000).
The Chinese automaker, founded less than 12 years ago, began its European push in 2020 with EV shipments to Norway. Now it wants the L03 to be its volume play: a five-seat, 4,650-mm model positioned below the G6, which competes with the Tesla Model Y, while aiming higher up the market against cars such as the Volkswagen ID.4.
XPeng is packing in a lot for the price. Standard equipment across the lineup includes a claimed WLTP 320-mile range, 10 to 80 percent charging in 20 minutes, a panoramic glass roof, heated and cooled massage seats, 256-color ambient lighting, smart parking, a 15.6-inch 2.5K center display, a 27-inch HUD, Google Maps, and AI-powered voice control. XPeng also claims a 0.228 drag coefficient to help efficiency.
Performance varies by trim. The fastest versions do 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, while the Standard Range model takes 7.5 seconds.
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There are caveats. In China, the car is sold as the Mona L03, part of XPeng’s lower-cost Mona sub-brand, but the company is downplaying that branding for international markets. Wired reports that the global “non-Mona” L03 has had its specs adjusted.
Autonomy is another dividing line. Most L03 versions are Level 2, while the Ultra trim is rated L2++ and uses three of XPeng’s Turing 7-nanometer AI chips for point-to-point, hands-off navigation. XPeng says that feature is due in Europe in 2027 through an over-the-air update, though the system will remain eyes on, hands off. According to Xianming Liu, XPeng’s senior director of engineering, the car lacks the six levels of redundancy needed for Level 4, so it will not go beyond L2++.
XPeng is also backing a camera-only approach rather than lidar, putting it closer to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving strategy than to Chinese rivals such as BYD, Zeekr, and Nio, which have chosen lidar.
Why the Ferrari comparisons keep coming
In person, the L03's most striking feature may be its resemblance to the Ferrari Luce, with some visual overlap also noted with the Denza Z9 GT. That is notable because the three cars sit in very different price bands: budget, premium, and luxury.
Part of that may come down to XPeng’s design leadership. Its head of design is JuanMa López, Ferrari’s former head of exterior design from 2010 to 2018, where he worked on roughly 25 models including the LaFerrari, SF90 Stradale, and Monza SP. Wired notes that López did not design the Luce itself, which was outsourced to LoveFrom, the firm founded by Jony Ive after leaving Apple in 2019.
XPeng’s design team is explicit about the goal. As Rafik Ferrag, the company’s head of creative design, told Wired:
“Yes, that’s right. In the past, it was impossible for an entry-level car to afford the technology or even the decorative elements that a luxury car has. Today, that’s no longer true. Our goal as designers is to reach the top level. If we can look as good as a Ferrari or a Bentley in an entry-level car, we’ll do it. And that’s what we are trying to do here, to reach this preciseness, this material fit and finish, color precision, and technology.”
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via Wired
