My Electric Dream Car Now Comes with Purple Interior…
Image Credit: XPeng.
I've been sniffing around the ever-expanding electric zoo we call the automotive market, and it seems our friends at XPeng have been busy again. Remember the P7? It was XPeng's absolute rockstar for a while, pulling more than 60% of their sales like a true headliner. Even last year, it was still hauling nearly half its volume. A proper hero, that car.
But time, like battery charge, eventually runs down. So, XPeng decided the faithful P7 needed a bit of a nip-tuck, perhaps a full-blown gym membership and a snazzier wardrobe. Internally, they called it the E29, which sounds less like a car and more like a highway exit you always miss. Thankfully, they're sticking with the P7 nameplate, suggesting this isn't some crazy new beast, but rather the familiar friend, just... updated. And trust me, based on what I've seen peeking out from under camouflage or in those slightly-too-revealing official shots, this isn't just a quick wash and polish.
Image Credit: XPeng.
The original P7 had this rather elegant, slightly understated vibe. Nice, but maybe a bit too sensible? The design guru, Rafik Ferrag, who penned the first one, was apparently told to make this new version "sportier." And oh boy, did he seem to take that seriously.
The new front end, with its distinctive sideways Y-shaped LED running lights that sit above the main headlights like a rather aggressive pair of eyebrows, has been described in some circles as taking cues from things like the Lamborghini Revuelto. I'm not saying it's a direct copy, because my lawyers would have a fit, but let's just say it looks less like something you'd calmly drive the kids to soccer practice in and more like something you might accidentally try to launch off a ramp. It's got thin light bars, an illuminated badge, and the whole fastback shape is still very much present and correct.
Image Credit: XPeng.
They've gone for flush door handles, which is great until it's freezing out and you can't figure out where the handle has run off to. And frameless side mirrors! Very sleek, very modern, very "don't lean too hard on that, Brian." But the pièce de résistance on the outside has to be the retractable rear spoiler. Clearly, driving an electric sedan at perfectly legal speeds requires aerodynamic assistance only previously seen on vehicles designed to break the sound barrier. Or maybe it's just for posing. Probably posing.
Now, the interior is still a bit of a mystery box, XPeng hasn't officially let us mere mortals see inside. But spy photos have offered a few clues. We're expecting the usual colossal screen slapped in the middle of the dashboard, and the steering wheel seems to have these intriguing circular buttons. Will they spin? Will they light up? Will they dispense small candies?
Image Credit: XPeng.
But here's the bit that got me to sit up and pay attention: purple leather seats. Purple. Like plum juice or lavender purple. I've seen some questionable interior choices in my time, but purple? Who orders purple leather? Are they targeting a very specific niche market of electric car enthusiasts who also moonlight as royalty, or are they massive fans of Barney the Dinosaur? I'm genuinely asking.
On the tech front, we're looking at the latest version of XPeng's in-car brain, called Xmart OS 2.0. This is the stuff that handles your voice commands (will it finally understand me when I ask it to turn down the terrible radio?) and might even include an augmented reality head-up display, since driving a car isn't distracting enough. Now we can have virtual arrows floating in front of us like we're in a video game.
Image Credit: XPeng.
The new P7 is expected to rely more on a vision-based driver assistance system - sounds familiar? Basically, cameras looking at the world, possibly powered by a new chip XPeng is calling Turing. This is a bit of a departure from some other XPeng models that are loaded up with LiDAR, those laser-spinning gizmos that build a 3D map of the world. Are cameras enough? Is it a cost-saving measure? Or have they genuinely cracked the code to making cameras do all the heavy lifting? The jury's still out, but relying on just cameras has worked for some rather successful electric carmakers, so maybe they're onto something.
Underneath all this new sheet metal and technology, there are whispers of a new platform called "Kunpeng." While XPeng hasn't spilled the full cup of beans on range and power just yet, the expectation is that it will at least match or slightly better the current P7i in the performance department. That means we're looking at power figures potentially reaching over 466 horsepower in the all-wheel-drive dual-motor setup. That should be enough to shove you back in your purple seat quite nicely.
Image Credit: XPeng.
And range? Well, based on the optimistic Chinese CLTC test cycle, reports suggest it could travel over 435 miles on a single charge. The real-world mileage is always less than the test cycle, especially if you're using all 466 of those horsepower, but even over 350 miles is nothing to sneeze at.
There's even some chatter, though totally unconfirmed by XPeng, that this new platform could support a range-extender version, basically a small gasoline engine just to charge the battery. An EV with a gasoline engine? Isn't that like building a vegan restaurant that also serves steak? It feels a bit counterintuitive, but hey, more options for more people, I suppose. Just don't tell the purists.
Image Credit: XPeng.
The boss man himself, He Xiaopeng, has been seen buzzing around in camouflaged versions, which is either dedicated testing or fantastic marketing. Probably both. They've even applied for a trademark for "P7 Ultra." Does that mean this updated car will be the Ultra? Or is there an even "more ultra" P7 coming? My brain hurts just trying to keep up.
When can we see this potentially purple-seated, spoiler-waving electric machine? The full reveal is slated for the third quarter of 2025, likely at the automotive spectacle known as the Guangzhou Auto Show over in China. How much will this slice of electric sportiness cost? Reports suggest the pricing will be similar to the current P7. That means we're looking at a starting price somewhere in the ballpark of $35,000 in China. For comparison, the entry-level Tesla Model 3 over there starts a bit lower, under $30,000.
Image Credit: XPeng.
The updated XPeng P7 seems like a genuinely interesting proposition. It's got the looks, the tech, the power, and potentially impressive range, all wrapped up in a package that could rival the big names without costing the Earth. I'm still gently skeptical about things like the purple leather and whether the vision-only ADAS is truly ready for prime time, but I'm also genuinely looking forward to seeing this thing in the metal... and maybe trying out that spoiler.
