China has a fascination with electric vehicles
unlike any other country on earth and seemingly every day, a new electric
vehicle from the People’s Republic slides across our desks. One of the most covered all-new
electric vehicles from China to emerge in the past 12 months is the Xpeng G3.
First unveiled at CES in January 2018, the electric crossover bears a few
obvious similarities to the Tesla Model X.
Now, we’re not going to stretch as far as calling it
a blatant 1:1 copy, because it isn’t. Sure, the front may have some resemblance
to the Model X due to the lack of a traditional front grille and
similarly-shaped headlights, but most of the SUV’s exterior is unique. For
example, the rear has a set of horizontal taillights joined together by a strip
of darkened red plastic unlike anything found on models with a Tesla badge.
While the exterior is largely original or at least
different enough, the same cannot be said for the interior as Xpeng appears to
have copied many elements of the cabin of the Model X. The centerpiece of the
G3’s cabin is a massive, vertical touchscreen in the center of the dashboard
where almost all of the vehicle’s functions can be controlled from. The digital
gauge cluster also has a near-identical shape to the Model X’s. Heck, even the
steering wheel of the G3 shares more than just a few traits with the Model X’s.
Unlike many other Chinese car startups to launch in
recent years, Xpeng has some serious money behind it. In fact, both Alibaba and
Foxconn have invested at least US$ 350 million in the company and the firm has
secured a contract with Nvidia to use its advanced ‘Xavier’ AI platform.
