while you walk At the XPeng exhibition event in Munich, you are greeted by, I kid you not, a giant wooden Trojan horse. It’s not exactly a subtle message from a Chinese brand announcing the world’s first launch of an electric vehicle, right in the German auto industry’s backyard.

It’s hard to believe that XPeng was founded just 12 years ago. However, in 2020 it was already shipping electric vehicles to Norway, marking the beginning of the Chinese company’s European journey.

Look at the top 10 EV manufacturers in China by volume and you won’t find XPeng, but it’s growing and has built a greater reputation outside its home country. Now it wants to go global with its latest model, the L03, the brand’s first new car that will be launched in 60 countries in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

The L03 is a great bet for XPeng because it is its “economical” model, with a starting price of 35,600 euros (about $40,000), priced lower than its competitor G6 Tesla Model Y and to be sold in volume.

Yes, the L03 is the company’s bet for the mass market. Despite the good prices, XPeng has tried to make the specifications attractive: a 320-mile WLTP range; fast charge from 10 to 80 percent in 20 minutes; panoramic glass roof; heated and cooled massage seats; 256-color ambient lighting; an impressive drag coefficient of 0.228 for greater range; smart parking; a 15.6-inch 2.5K central screen; 27-inch HUD; AI-powered voice control; and even integrated Google Maps.

All of this and more comes standard, whether you opt for the base model, Long Range, AWD or Ultra. The phrase XPeng keeps using for this embarrassment of riches is “beyond class.” He wants the L03 to go toe-to-toe with higher-end EVs: cars like the Volkswagen ID.4.

Performance? Well, the 4,650mm five-seat L03 can hit 0-60mph in just 4.5 seconds in top models, but this drops to 7.5 seconds in the standard-range base version.

Photography: Courtesy of XPeng

While the other L03 models are Level 2 for autonomous driving, the Ultra moves up to L2++ for next-generation point-to-point hands-off navigation that will supposedly arrive in Europe in 2027 (thanks to a trio of 7-nanometer Turing AI chips from XPeng). An over-the-air update will be all it takes to activate this hands-free, eyes-open system.

All this is, on paper, excellent value for money. L03 owners will get a lot of EV bang for their buck. But not everything is positive. In China, the L03 is called the Mona L03 because it is part of XPeng’s budget Mona sub-brand. XPeng does not want to highlight this fact, and I am told that the specifications have been modified for this global “non-Mona” L03, which I assume is intended to justify the name change.

For L4 autonomy in the future, although the Ultra L03 has the brains to operate at that level, Xianming Liu, senior director of engineering at XPeng, tells me that the car lacks the hardware that meets the required six levels of redundancy. This “cheap” electric vehicle will never be allowed beyond L2++ abilities.