Tech-heavy Chinese electric SUV is a close match for the Tesla Model Y across the board – and should be cheaper
There are enough electric SUVs on sale now that not all of them need be labelled as Tesla Model Y rivals, but when they’re so obviously designed to light a fire under the rear of the world’s best-selling EV as the Xpeng G6, the comparison invites itself.Revealed last year and conceived in almost every respect as a direct alternative to Elon Musk’s world-beating family crossover, the G6 is now being imported to the UK by Solihull’s International Motors, which plans to follow it up with another four slick, tech-focused EVs in a range of segments.Customer deliveries are set to get under way in the middle of the spring, and while prices are yet to be confirmed, it’s understood the G6 will undercut the Model Y – which is due a fairly chunky update later this year – by a useful margin. Expect a starting price at around the £40,000 mark for the 270-mile Standard Range car and nearer £45,000 for the 354-mile Long Range.The G6 is yet another electric SUV out of China that’s claimed to be smart, digital-first and sustainable. It’s got a big screen inside and one of those light bars as well. The company behind it describes itself as a start-up led by a tech entrepreneur and touts the benefits of having R&D facilities in various countries worldwide as it targets a roll-out in key markets outside China over the coming years.In the bursting-at-the-seams medium-sized SUV class that contains the Tesla Model Y, Skoda Enyaq, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and many, many others, Xpeng is going to need something a bit more eye-catching to draw people’s attention. It doesn’t help that this new G6 looks rather a lot like a Model Y with some slimmer lights.