Styling
Polestar's been on the phone, Xpeng, asking for its headlight clusters back. Oh, and while you're at it, Porsche would like a word too, regarding the facsimile rear view that is pure
Macan Electric, right down to the little vents underneath the extremities of the full-width light bar.
OK, facetious of us, but despite the rather obvious similarities with some European brands' aesthetic output, the 4.65-metre-long L03 is actually quite a looker. Especially in the truly smashing Phantom Purple colour and when sitting on the 20-inch wheels (behind which there are yellow-finished brake callipers) that are the hallmark of the Ultra package. Thus, the L03 is not going to deter punters in showrooms... unless they've got a bit confused and wandered into a Polestar dealership by mistake.
Interior
The G6's strength was its interior quality and Xpeng manages to uphold that with the swish, plushly appointed cabin of the L03. Admittedly, it's another button-free, touchscreen-fanatical interface, centred on a 15.6-inch main infotainment panel, an 8.8-inch letterbox instrument cluster and a (largely superb) 26.8-inch driver's head-up display (HUD), but aside from some minor gripes and ergonomic niggles, this all works well in the main - and it looks sharp, too.
There are idiosyncrasies, including the retention of climate controls
on the steering wheel; it sounds bizarre, and it is at first, but as we've already tried this in the G6 then we quite like it in the L03 too. Although once you enable the Xpeng's radar cruise, the climate reverts to the touchscreen and its erstwhile-wheel-mounted switches are then dedicated to maintaining motorway pace and the distance to the car in front.
Practicality
Good marks for the passenger compartment of the Xpeng L03, not so good a report card for the boot capacity. Dotted throughout the cabin are 37 assorted storage compartments, including a huge central cubby under the armrest and even a 10-litre pull-out drawer beneath the rear seats. Speaking of which, leg- and headroom there is generous in the extreme, especially for a coupe-SUV, and the floorwell is, as you'd expect of an EV, completely flat across its entire width.
But in a clear case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the L03 only has a 367-litre boot, including the large well underneath the cargo bay's floor. Xpeng does at least offer a 'froot' for those who love such things, which is decent on the rear-driven models at 89 litres, and less-decent but still OK for the AWD tested here (44 litres, due to the fitment of an additional front e-motor).
Performance
There will be three main drivetrains for the UK Xpeng L03 line-up, with two single-motor, rear-wheel-drive cars and then one dual-motor AWD. Power ranges from 222hp to a colossal (for this sector) 431hp across the board, and then there are two battery sizes as well: both LFPs, the RWD Standard Range deploys a 57.6kWh item, while the RWD Long Range and the AWD Performance have access to a meatier 70.4kWh unit.
No doubts about the claimed 431hp for this AWD Performance, because the numbers on the HUD's digital speedo dial whizz up in almost comical, cartoon-like fashion if you dig into the throttle with any sort of gusto, and it doesn't ever struggle for traction either. Odd, because the L03 was on Giti GitiControl P10s, which - the last time we sampled them - resulted in us driving one of the most awful, traction-limited vehicles
we've ever had the misfortune to drive.
With adequate brake feel and crisp throttle response, there are no major complaints with the way the Xpeng L03 gets down the road from a performance perspective, then. And no issues with its efficiency, either. The official range claims for the entire line-up aren't great, with the RWD Long Range the champ at 323 miles and this AWD Performance bringing up the rear at a modest 273 miles. But across two days of stringent testing in Germany, Switzerland and France, it delivered an indicated return that suggested it would match its published one-shot range; not bad at all.
Ride & Handling
This is the area where the Xpeng L03 falls down. The larger G6 isn't an amazing dynamic masterpiece, but it feels like more love and care went into its chassis than this utterly buttoned-down effort for the L03. What we have here is a car which delivers all the driving enjoyment at the wheel as the
Aion V, only it has considerably more power.
Nothing the L03 does in terms of ride and handling is actively bad, you understand, although the quick and accurate steering also manages to confound as it has barely any meaningful weighting and absolutely zero natural feel. But it's a six-out-of-ten chassis in every single regard, resulting in one of the most unremarkable-to-drive cars we've ever tested.
The Xpeng L03 AWD Performance is smooth, and quiet, and fairly comfortable. And that's about all we can say on the matter, really.
Value
This might be the Xpeng's saving grace, because although UK prices will not be confirmed until November, it was intimated to us at the launch that the L03 will start from around £33,000 and will only cost in the region of £40k for this 431hp AWD Performance. Throw in a kitchen-sink standard equipment list and Xpeng's five-year, 75,000-mile warranty, and the L03 is undeniably going to be admirable value-for-money.
Verdict
Sure, the Xpeng L03 is smooth to drive. It's spacious inside. The material quality of the cabin is good. Its showpiece technology is reasonably neatly integrated. And it's easy on the eye, accusations of automative aesthetic plagiarism aside.
But, unlike the G6, it doesn't feel like any effort has been put into the L03's dynamics, at all. If we were point-blank asked 'what were the ride and handling of the L03 like?', we'd probably just reply 'Yes'. So as long as you aren't interested in even the slightest shred of driver involvement, and you like the combative pricing of the Xpeng, this is a fine choice. For everyone else, there are better options out there.
