On July 10, chairman of XPeng Motors, He Xiaopeng, officially announced the upcoming Q4 launch of the XPeng P7+, which was codenamed as the XPeng F57. Most expected this vehicle to be named as either P6 or P8.
This new sedan will measure over 5 meters in length and will "open a new era for ADAS" by ditching LiDAR and laser radar with a vision-based autonomous driving system.
Elon Musk responded to a cnevpost article on the new XPeng P7+ ditching the LiDAR with three dots "...". Musk has been a long time advocate for pure vision, making the analogy with humans' driving using eyesight only.
The P7+ will introduce major design changes, notably the headlights and tail lights.
The XPeng P7i currently measures 4,888 mm in length, 1,896 mm in width, 1,450 mm in height, and 2,998 mm in wheelbase. The P7+ will measure over 5 meter in length.
The new XPeng Mona M03 was just unveiled on July 3 with a record 0.194 drag coefficient, the lowest of any mass-produced electric vehicles in the world. See the ranking in China here.
XPeng is betting on the Mona M03 and P7+ to revitalize its sedan segment, which has seen mediocre sales volume with the P7 and the P5 in 2024.
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In a previous earnings call, He Xiaopeng hinted that a new B-class sedan (P7+ potentially) will be delivered in Q4 of this year with the goal of achieving a 25% technical cost reduction.
With an annual target sales of 280,000 vehicles and only 56,635 sold year-to-date as of June 2024, roughly 20.2% of target achieved, the company hopes major volume uptick in the second half of this year.
See how XPeng compares to other Chinese EV brands against their respective annual sales targets here.
The P7+ is positioned to compete with the Xiaomi SU7, Zeekr 007, and Lynk & Co Z10.
Front Design
The XPeng P7+ continues with the original P7 headlight that adopts a triple light strip design. The front hood edges are much more pronounced than the P7's.
The fog lights are interconnected seamlessly with the side vents. Combined, these design elements create a more aggressive look to the car.
Profile Design
The profile lines are much more soft and subtle than the front face of the car. The P7+, like most new energy vehicles, adopts hidden door handles to minimize wind resistance. The new wheel hubs are fairly simple and elegant.
The P7+ profile look reveals a major shift in body proportions from the original P7 with a much shorter front overhang. This design moves the front cabin forward, raising the front window line, which creates more space for the back row and enables a better driving posture.
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Rear Design
The XPeng P7+ features a fastback design with the roofline extending all the way to the rear bumper, creating a sleek and aerodynamic profile. It almost looks like a single piece of glass wrapping the entire roof of the car.
In addition, the P7+ moved away from the straight light strip rear tail light design to a split-strip folding sharply inward on either ends of the tail lights like a boomerang.
Pricing
While no official price has been released yet, we expect the P7+ to command a premium over the P7's current price range of 223,900 - 339,900 RMB.