AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/27 Report--

He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motor, revealed the name of Xiaopeng's first MPV product on his personal social account on May 26. He Xiaopeng said: "in addition to the G6, we have been polishing the new MPV--X9 recently, and we will use this product to open the 'young' MPV market." Unfortunately, he Xiaopeng did not disclose more details of the new car, which will be launched in the fourth quarter.

Previous espionage photo information showed that the new car or positioning medium and large MPV, using a pure electric power system, combined with the positioning of the "young" MPV, means that Xiaopeng X9 positioning will be different from Tengli D9, polar krypton 009 and other products.

In terms of appearance, combined with the spy photo, the current Xiaopeng X9 spy photo is covered with thick camouflage, but we can still see that the appearance of the new car basically continues the family design style, with a closed grille on the front face and a split lamp group design on both sides. The upper daytime traffic lights are penetrating design, lengthening the visual width of the front face. The bottom is an inverted trapezoidal grille, and the lidar is under the headlights.

The side of the body, different from the traditional MPV models on the market, the Xiaopeng X9 looks very round as a whole, and the roof line begins to tilt downward from the D-pillar position, so that the vehicle forms an oblique visual effect in the rear window. In addition, Xiaopeng X9 also uses a hidden door handle design, with side sliding doors on both sides of the back row. The rear part is one of the bright spots of the whole car. Xiaopeng X9 does not use the ordinary MPV design style, but uses a straight rear design. The rear window has a large tilt angle, which looks different, and there are not many details in the taillight design for the time being.

In the interior part, the spy photos of the new car show that the car is still in a minimalist style, or it will be equipped with a large central control screen and a brand-new double-spoke steering wheel, but no further details have been given. Power is also not disclosed officially, but combined with the positioning of the new car, it is expected that the new car may be equipped with the same powertrain as the Xiaopeng G9. As a reference, the Xiaopeng G9 provides rear drive and dual-motor all-wheel drive. The rear-drive model is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum power of 230 kilowatts, while the four-wheel drive model will add an AC asynchronous motor with a maximum power of 175 kilowatts to the front axle.

Although the volume of the current MPV market is relatively small, with the entry of Buick's flagship MPV, Lanto Dreamer, Tencent D9, FAW Toyota grivia and Hongqi brand-new MPV, the new forces of domestic car building have also begun to focus on MPV. In addition to Xiaopeng, ideal Motors also announced the launch of its first MPV all-electric model, which will be released within this year and delivered in 2024.

Ideal MPV road test spy photo

According to the CAS data, domestic MPV sales fell 1.0% year-on-year to 1.079 million vehicles in 2021, and fell again to 943000 vehicles in 2022, down 12.6% from the same period last year. However, as more and more car companies set up this market, the domestic MPV car market in 2023 experienced an obvious reshuffle.

According to the latest retail data of the Federation of passengers, the cumulative retail sales of narrow passenger cars in China from January to April in 2023 were 5.896 million units, down 1.3% from the same period last year. Among them, the cumulative sales of the domestic MPV market was 338000, an increase of 14.7% over the same period last year. From January to April, the top five models in the MPV retail sales list were Wuling Hongguang, Buick GL8, Tengli D9, Chuanqi M8 and Sena, respectively. Wuling Hongguang still ranked first in sales, with sales of 43509 vehicles but down 33.8% from the same period last year, followed by Buick GL8 with 36017 vehicles. Teng Teng D9, a new car soon on the market, also ranked third on the list with sales of 34529, while Chuanqi M8 and Sena, which ranked fourth and fifth, had cumulative sales of 26486 and 25607 respectively.

According to the official website, Xiaopeng's models on sale include Xiaopeng P7, Xiaopeng P7i, P5, G3i and G9. Xiaopeng will launch five new cars this year, of which the Xiaopeng G6 model is located as a medium-sized pure electric SUV, which is expected to go on sale at the end of the second quarter and begin large-scale delivery in July, when it competes with Tesla Model Y.

From the analysis of the current product structure of Xiaopeng, Xiaopeng G3 and P5 have entered the middle and end of the product, and the competitiveness of the pure electricity market at the level of 10-200000 is gradually weakening, while Xiaopeng G9 is also facing challenges at the sales end because of its relatively high price. This also means that Xiaopeng P7i and G6 models will to a large extent become the support of Xiaopeng car sales. Of course, he Xiaopeng also has high hopes for the Xiaopeng G6. He Xiaopeng said bluntly that the G6 will become a popular style in China's 20 to 300000 yuan new energy SUV market. With the launch of Xiaopeng X9, it remains to be verified whether Xiaopeng car sales can rise to a higher level at that time.

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