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XPeng’s €35,600 L03 takes on Europe with Ferrari-like style
XPeng has unveiled the L03, a €35,600 EV bound for 60 countries with a 320-mile WLTP range, fast charging, and styling that recalls Ferrari’s Luce.
Image: Wired
XPeng has picked Munich for the global debut of its new L03, a mass-market EV the company says will launch in 60 countries across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. Starting at €35,600 (about $40,000), it sits below the company’s G6 Tesla Model Y rival and is meant to sell at scale.
Founded less than 12 years ago, XPeng began shipping EVs to Norway in 2020, marking the start of its push into Europe. The L03 is central to the next phase: a lower-cost model with a long standard equipment list that XPeng repeatedly describes as “beyond class.”
The claimed specs are aggressive for the price. XPeng says the L03 offers a WLTP range of 320 miles, 10 to 80 percent charging in 20 minutes, a panoramic glass roof, heated and cooled massage seats, 256-color ambient lighting, a 0.228 drag coefficient, smart parking, a 15.6-inch 2.5K central display, a 27-inch head-up display, AI-powered voice control, and Google Maps built in. Those features are included across the lineup, from the standard version to the Long Range, AWD, and Ultra trims.
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Performance varies by model. The five-seat, 4,650-mm L03 does 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds in higher-end versions, while the Standard Range entry model does it in 7.5 seconds.
The Ultra version is also the most ambitious on driver assistance. While other L03 variants are Level 2, the Ultra is rated L2++, with point-to-point, hands-off navigation planned for Europe in 2027, powered by three XPeng Turing 7-nanometer AI chips. According to Xianming Liu, XPeng’s senior director of engineering, that function would be enabled by an over-the-air update.
But Liu also told Wired that the car will not reach Level 4 autonomy because it lacks the hardware needed for the required six levels of redundancy. XPeng is also betting on a camera-based approach rather than lidar, putting it in the same camp as Tesla, while rivals including BYD, Zeekr, and Nio have gone the other way.
In China, the car is sold as the Mona L03, part of XPeng’s budget Mona sub-brand. For global markets, XPeng is dropping the Mona branding, and Wired reports the specifications have been adjusted for this international version.
What stands out most in person, according to Wired, is the design. The L03's shape reportedly recalls the Ferrari Luce, and also draws comparisons with the Denza Z9 GT despite occupying a much lower price tier.
That resemblance may not be accidental. XPeng’s 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. López did not design the Luce itself, which was outsourced to LoveFrom, the firm founded by Jony Ive after leaving Apple in 2019.
Rafik Ferrag, XPeng’s head of creative design, told Wired that lower-cost cars can now carry visual and technical features once reserved for luxury models.
“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
