Xpeng Receives 10,000 Pre-Orders In Under An Hour For New Tesla Model 3 Rival: Report

Xpeng Inc. XPEV debuted the new all-electric G7 SUV in China as the country's brutal EV price war shows no signs of relenting.

What Happened: The Chinese automaker received over 10,000 pre-orders for the G7 SUV in under 46 minutes, CnEVPost reported on Thursday.

Xpeng says display models of the SUV are available across multiple outlets in China. The SUV would retail for around 235,810 Yuan or slightly under $33,000, pitting it squarely against Tesla Inc.'s TSLA cheapest vehicle in China, the Model 3.

Also Read: Tesla Supplier CATL Hits Milestone With 1 Million Battery Packs Delivered To Li Auto

The SUV also features Xpeng's Turing AI chip, which is developed in-house by the automaker, marking a shift away from the previously utilized Nvidia Corp. NVDA autonomous driving chipsets.

Why It Matters: The G7 debuts in what is a cutthroat market as China's EV price war has put pressure on the country's supply chains, with several automakers, including EV giant BYD Co. Ltd. BYDDF BYDDY pledging faster payments to suppliers.

The EV price war was also called out by the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper, The People's Daily, which equated it to a ‘rat race' and warned of negative effects on the country's supply chain, as well as product quality issues, among other things.

However, the aggressive pricing strategy continues as BYD recently released the Seal 06 EV sedan, which retails for $15,000, undercutting the Tesla Model 3 as well as the G7 SUV's price by almost half.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next: