Six appeal: 2025 XPeng G6 headed for Australia to fight refreshed Tesla Model Y with fresh tech and new batteries

March 12, 2025March 11, 2025 John Mahoney 781 Views 0 Comments G6, Xpeng

Just four months after it made its debut Down Under the 2025 XPeng G6 has been under the knife to prepare for the renewed opposition from the heavily revised Tesla Model Y.

And the changes to the mid-size SUV are comprehensive.

On sale in China as soon as later this month, the XPeng G6 bags a new full-width light bar, relocated bonnet emblem, fresh set of alloy wheels, and subtly revised tailgate with new spoiler.

There’s also a new palette of paint colour available but the big changes are within and under the skin.

Inside, for example, there’s now a set of slightly larger screens with the G6 adopting a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster (up from 10.2 inches) and a larger 15.6-inch infotainment system (up from 14.9 inches).

For now, the most significant change is the Standard Range 66kWh battery has been dumped in favour of a larger 68.5kWh lithium iron phosphate power pack that returns an extra 45km of range (on the Chinese CLTC test cycle).

While the entry Standard Range powerpack has become larger, the Long Range version shrinks from 87.5kWh to a more modest 80.8kWh nickel manganese cobalt battery that drops the Chinese CLTC range by around 25km.

The crucial element is both are run by a much more powerful Qualcomm 8295 processor.

Few will notice the new pattern for the speaker shrouds but many will pick up on the fresh steering wheel that gets new capacitive functions.

Within there’s now a digital rear-view mirror, new ambient lighting, plus a pair of comfier ventilated and heated ‘cloud sense’ front seats with massage function.

Thanks to the enhanced computing XPeng says it has launched its new Artificial Intelligence-powered infotainment as well as upgraded driver-assist aids that could soon include a Level 3 (hands-off, eyes-off the road) autonomous cruise control.

The good news is the cheapest Standard Range gets a more powerful single motor that produces 218kW (+28kW) and 440Nm of torque (torque remains the same as before), while the Long Range version gets 8kW more power.

Performance for the rear-drive versions doesn’t change for the G6 Standard Range (which accelerates to 100km/h 6.6 seconds), but the Long Range takes a brisker 5.9 seconds to hit 100km/h from rest – 0.3 seconds quicker than before.

The 358kW/660Nm dual-motor version G6 Performance AWD is expected to join these updated models in Aussie XPeng showrooms in 2025.

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As per the previous models, the G6’s powerful 800V electrical architecture carries over unchanged, along with its 280kW peak DC charging rate, with a 10 to 80 per cent top-up taking 20 minutes.

Unusually, XPeng’s founder He Xiaopeng has claimed on social media that a further 81 upgrades will be revealed in the coming weeks, with the firm claiming that as much as 34 per cent of all the hardware of the G6 is all new.

Speaking to EV Central before the facelifted G6 surfaced, Jason Clarke, the CEO of Xpeng’s importer TrueEV, all-but confirmed the dual-motor G6 AWD Performance would be joined in Australian market by “two variants”.

“That [G6 Performance] is still on the cards and there will be G6 variants definitely this year, more than one.

“There are two [other] variants that we are likely to get, but we are not certain of the specs yet.”

Arriving only late last October 2024, the XPeng G6 was priced from $54,800 plus on-road costs for the entry-level Standard Range.

Chinese media is now tipping price cuts of up to $4500 for the new version, although Clarke says in Australia higher import costs might wipe out those savings Down Under.

That means the updated XPeng G6 might not be able to head off new rivals like the cheaper Geely EX5 and Leapmotor C10, while the pricing of the Tesla Model Y Juniper will also be closer to it once the Launch Editions are replaced by the standard models.

“In this early phase we are really trying to anchor the brand XPeng to bring it forward with quality aspects of that brand,” said Clarke.

“And we have been robust on price and our costs are obviously increasing because of exchange rates, cost of transportation and so on, but we are keeping the pricing for the variants we have robust and not looking to change those and really focussing on the quality of the G6 and the brand XPeng.”

The XPeng G6’s appeal was recently boosted following TrueEV’s announcement that models would benefit from the 10-year local warranty that was originally introduced on a promotional basis only.

Also on the menu for 2025 is the XPeng X9 people-mover, while in 2026 expect the large G9 SUV and the new G7 SUV.

TrueEV has already declared it is keen to rapidly expand the XPeng line-up to include the already announced Tesla Model 3-rivalling XPeng Mona M03 and P7+ sedan.

With Bruce Newton