- Xpeng, one of Tesla’s biggest Chinese competitors, has started building cars in Europe.
- The ambitious EV maker’s first European models will be built alongside the legendary Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
- That’s because Xpeng contracted Magna International, the same company that built the Fisker Ocean and Jaguar I-Pace.
Chinese electric car maker Xpeng has officially started manufacturing electric passenger vehicles in Europe, beating rival BYD to the punch, though not by much. Xpeng has partnered with Austrian contract manufacturer Magna Steyr to begin local production of the G6 and G9 electric crossovers, with the first units having already rolled off the production line.
Magna is one of the biggest names in the automotive industry, with its manufacturing facility in Graz, Austria, being responsible for assembling the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and BMW Z4. The discontinued Jaguar I-Pace and the ill-fated Fisker Ocean EVs were assembled at the same location.
In other words, Xpeng went with the safe and fast approach here. Instead of pouring billions into a new factory, it went to a highly regarded contract manufacturer to kickstart its European ambitions. By building EVs in the European Union, Xpeng should be able to avoid the import tariffs on Chinese EVs that were introduced last year. These come on top of a 10% duty and range from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for other automakers. XPeng, which is considered a “cooperating” entity in the EU’s subsidy probe, faces a 20.7% extra duty.
Series production is expected to be in full swing by next month, ahead of BYD’s planned production start in Hungary toward the end of the year. Besides the G6 and G9 electric crossovers, which are Xpeng’s best-selling models in Europe, the company plans on expanding local production to other models in the future.
Gallery: Xpeng starts European EV production at Austria's Magna Steyr
Xpeng was founded in 2014, making it one of the youngest names in the industry. Despite this, it captured the public’s attention with reasonably priced and well-appointed cars, reaching nearly 200,000 sales last year. Its ambitions run high, with electric aircraft, robots and artificial intelligence being a big part of its plans for the future.
It entered Norway, its first European market, in 2021, and has expanded to over 46 countries and regions worldwide. In the first seven months of this year, it reported 18,701 exports, a 217% year-over-year increase. In Europe, Xpeng saw over 8,000 registrations in the first half of the year, which is not exactly groundbreaking, but numbers are clearly on the rise.
More than half of the European sales–67% to be precise–have come from the G6, a Tesla Model Y rival with an 800-volt battery that can recharge at up to 451 kilowatts for a 10% to 80% top-up in just 10 minutes.
