Xpeng has launched its third model on the market, a battery-electric compact sedan not unlike the Tesla Model 3. Called the P5, the new sedan is a smaller sibling to Xpeng’s P7, which is already on sale in China, and it was shown to the world for the first time in April during Auto Shanghai 2021.
The company has started the sale of the P5 and confirmed the start of deliveries for October. It is priced to start from just 157,900 yuan (approximately $24,500), after incentives.
While there are many credible electric vehicles starting to emerge from China, the Xpeng P5 stands out as being the first production car in the world with built-in LiDAR sensors. They are included on the range-topping 550P and 600P grades, priced from 199,900 yuan and 223,900 yuan, respectively.
The P5 uses two LiDAR sensors, one positioned on either side of the front fascia. According to Xpeng, they are able to distinguish between pedestrians, cyclists and scooters, static obstacles, and road works, including tunnels and during night driving and poor weather.
In the case of the P5, the LiDAR sensors, together with 12 ultrasonic sensors, five millimeter-wave radars, and more than a dozen cameras, are used by a suite of electronic driver-assist features grouped under the Xpilot banner.
