A large hatchback with a 3-meter wheelbase and free AI visual driving as standard, can the Xiaopeng P7+ challenge the Xiaomi SU7?

In September 2024, Xpeng Motors delivered 21,352 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 39% and a month-on-month increase of 52%. The situation is very good. But we also need to see that in this report card, the people-friendly Xpeng MONA M03 contributed more than 10,000 vehicles.

In other words, the performance of other models sold by Xpeng Motors has not improved significantly. This is obviously an unhealthy situation for Xpeng Motors and must be changed.

On October 10, Xiaopeng P7+ made its global debut. The new car is expected to start pre-sale at the Paris Motor Show which opens on October 14, and will be officially launched in early November. The exhibition car has now entered Xiaopeng Motors stores in many parts of the country.

Xiaopeng P7 was once a veteran contributor to Xiaopeng Motors. After Wang Fengying took office, he launched P7i, but sales did not increase. The cumulative sales from January to August 2024 were 11,760 vehicles.

Xiaopeng obviously does not want to give up P7, its own big IP, so what about the strength of the Xiaopeng P7+ that was unveiled this time?

It adopts a family design language, which is similar to the Xiaopeng P7. It retains the through-type LED light strip, but has made adjustments to the details. The sides of the headlights are integrated with the air intakes, which improves recognition and looks sharper.

The new car is positioned as a medium-to-large sedan with a body length of 5056mm and a wheelbase of 3000mm. This size makes it the largest sedan currently under Xiaopeng.

In terms of design, its most eye-catching feature is undoubtedly the large hatchback, which brings a benefit, that is, the trunk space will be even better. The length of the trunk opening reaches 1.04 meters, the depth is 1.14 meters, and the width is 1.1 meters. When the rear seats are folded down, a large space of 2,200 liters can be obtained.

The side of the car body adopts a coupe-style design. The fastback shape brings a stronger sporty atmosphere and an ultra-low drag coefficient of Cd 0.206, which also improves the visual effect.

Xiaopeng Motors officially claims that this car has a spacious interior space, but according to the general rules of the automobile market, the rear head space will also be affected for models with a fastback body. How Xiaopeng P7+ solves this problem will have to wait until the car is officially launched on the market to be revealed.

The design of the rear of the car is relatively simple, with a semi-enclosed through-type light strip, which has a relatively high degree of recognition. At the same time, the new car also has a large-sized spoiler designed at the rear, which forms a double-tail combination with the rear of the car. Regardless of its actual function, its design sense can attract many young consumers.

Let’s take a look at the interior. The interior layout of the Xiaopeng P7+ also adopts a family style, which is similar to the Xiaopeng X9 currently on sale. It is equipped with a 15.6-inch central control screen and a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P chip. At the same time, it also provides an 8-inch screen in the back row, bringing stronger entertainment functions.

At the same time, the new car also provides a small table on the right side of the back row, which is relatively rare among models of the same level.

In addition, the high-end configuration of Xiaopeng P7+ has also been upgraded. The whole car is equipped with two 50W mobile phone wireless charging panels, 20 high-fidelity HIFI speakers, three luxury car-level fragrances, seat heating and ventilation as standard for the entire series, and 10-degree electric adjustment of the rear seats as standard. The configuration level is still quite good.

In terms of power system, the information released so far by Xiaopeng P7+ is that it only provides a single motor. The low-power version has a maximum power of 180kW and a range of 602km under CLTC conditions; the high-power version has a maximum power of 230kW and a range of 710km. At the same time, all models support 800V high-voltage fast charging.

Judging from the market performance in the past year, the recognition of pure electric mid-to-large sedans is not high. Only a few models such as Zeekr 001, Xiaomi SU7, and BYD Tang EV have entered the mainstream market. One of the main reasons is that they have never been able to solve the problem of range anxiety.

However, the maximum range of the Xiaopeng P7+ reaches 710km, and coupled with 800V high-voltage fast charging, it can actually meet the user's car needs in most cases.

If you only focus on basic performance such as appearance, space, and power, it will be difficult to stand out, because the Chinese auto market is too competitive. High-end configurations from six months ago may be commonplace six months later. If a car wants to truly gain a foothold, it also needs to find selling points that it can do but other models in the same price range cannot.

At present, high-level intelligent driving best meets this requirement. Xiaopeng P7+ also uses this as a selling point, and the official even directly calls it "China's first AI car."

The Xiaopeng P7+ is equipped with Xiaopeng's new intelligent driving solution - Xiaopeng AI Eagle Eye Vision Solution. Compared with Xiaopeng's existing intelligent driving solution, this solution has increased the perception distance by 125% and the recognition speed by 40%. It also solves the problem of poor performance of visual intelligent driving under dark light and backlight conditions.

In terms of specific auxiliary functions, in addition to the conventional L2-level auxiliary functions, Xiaopeng P7+ also provides advanced auxiliary functions such as automatic parking, memory parking, automatic lane change assistance, automatic entry and exit of ramps, city NOA, and highway NOA.

The intelligent driving of Xiaopeng P7+ can achieve such performance thanks to the standard NVIDIA dual Orin-X chips, and it is also the first to be equipped with the Dimensity XOS 5.4.0 system. At the same time, Xiaopeng Motors also stated that the software of this intelligent driving system is free of charge and does not adopt a subscription model, and it can be used upon delivery.

Therefore, it can be seen that Xiaopeng has shown a lot of sincerity in the Xiaopeng P7+.

The new car has good basic performance, good appearance, space, internal configuration, power, and intelligent driving. It is not inferior to competitors such as Xiaomi SU7 in terms of book strength.

However, how to price this car will be a difficult problem.

The official guide price of the Xiaopeng P7 currently on sale is 223,900 yuan, and the actual selling price after the discount is more than 200,000 yuan, and it is only a B-class car; the Xiaopeng P7+ is positioned as a medium and large sedan, which is a level higher than the Xiaopeng P7, and the price is bound to be adjusted up, and it is expected to exceed rivals such as Xiaomi SU7.

Under such circumstances, it may be questionable whether Xiaopeng P7+ is still competitive.

In addition, hatchback mid-to-large sedans have been characterized by "popularity but not sales" since the era of fuel vehicles, and are relatively niche models. In the new energy vehicle market, only a few models such as Xiaomi SU7 and Zeekr 001 can gain a foothold. It is also worth paying attention to whether Xiaopeng P7+ can break this vicious circle.

Overall, Xiaopeng P7+ is powerful and has good prospects, but it will still be difficult to enter the club of monthly sales of 10,000 vehicles in the short term.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.