XPENG P5

Nascent Chinese marque primes cut-price yet tech-loaded electric family saloon

- MARK ANDREWS

TESTED 2.9.21, BEIJING, CHINA ON SALE EARLY 2022 (NORWAY)

The P5 is the all-important third model from Chinese EV maker Xpeng and is aimed squarely at young families seeking a highly connected electric saloon. Already present in Norway, Xpeng is poised for major European expansion over the next year, and the P5 will be one of the cars spearheading that push.

As the world’s first production car with built-in lidar, it expands on the autonomous features of the sportier P7 and, when the software is ready, will offer an inner-city selfdriving capability that’s likely to rival Tesla’s so-called Full Self-Driving system. Thankfully, the two lidar units sit well back within the front end, negating the risk of extremely expensive fender-benders.

Sitting on the same platform as Xpeng’s first model, the G3 compact crossover, the P5 has quite a high stance for a saloon. Perhaps that’s what makes it look awkward in pictures, although it appears more elegant in the metal.

There’s little mistaking that the P5 is electric at heart, though. Xpeng has eked out as much space as possible for occupants, so despite it having a considerably shorter wheelbase than the P7, the P5 actually has more space inside – especially rear legroom.