XPeng said its GX range-extender SUV drove more than 765 miles (1,231 kilometers) from Dubai to Salalah in Oman without refueling or recharging, as it builds up to a Middle East launch next week with orders for the model approaching 4,000.
The SUV made the trip “fully loaded in 45°C heat” (113°F), with three people and four pieces of luggage, the company said on its global X account on Tuesday.
The run was the first leg XPeng has detailed of its “Grand Xplore” tour, which it said will put its Kunpeng range extender through six “extreme desert challenges” across the Middle East.
The posters XPeng released with the claim carry a footnote saying “portions of this material are AI-generated, for creative and conceptual purposes only,” and that product claims are “subject to official XPENG releases.”
What the GX did
XPeng’s poster lists the GX’s “pure EV range” on the trip as 168 miles (270 kilometers), with the gasoline generator covering the rest of the distance.
That is well below the 267-mile (430-kilometer) pure-electric range XPeng quoted at a Dubai media workshop on October 6, a figure measured on China’s lenient CLTC test cycle. XPeng did not say whether the 168-mile figure reflects real-world driving in the heat.
The company has quoted a combined range of 985 miles (1,585 kilometers) on the CLTC cycle, from a 63.3 kWh battery and a 60-liter (15.9-gallon) fuel tank.
The GX uses XPeng’s Kunpeng range extender, which the company said generates 3.6 kWh per liter of fuel and supports DC fast charging up to 420 kW.
XPeng said two Gulf content creators, Jaber Almaki and He-drives, drove the car, with “NO mid-journey refuel or charge,” and posted a 24-minute video of the trip.
When XPeng presented the challenge in early October, it was billed as a 746-mile (1,200-kilometer) run from Dubai to the Salalah area with a full tank and a full battery.
Orders before pricing
Founder and CEO He Xiaopeng said on October 22 that the GX had collected “close to 4,000 orders” in “a small part” of the Middle East, before any test-drive cars had arrived.
He made the comment as XPeng delivered the 30,000th GX in China, five months after the model’s May 20 launch there.
XPeng had put Middle East orders at more than 3,000 in its October 1 delivery release. The company has not said whether the orders are backed by deposits or which countries they come from.
The company began mass shipments of the GX to the Middle East and Africa from the port of Lianyungang in mid-October, without having published overseas prices.
Why the Gulf matters
The Middle East push comes as GX sales in China level off. The GX’s China registrations were 6,737 in June, 7,016 in July and 7,002 in August, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
XPeng reported 7,224 GX deliveries in September, a figure that includes vehicles shipped abroad.
Exports have become a larger part of XPeng’s business. The company said on September 30 that it had delivered more than 100,000 vehicles outside China, including over 60,000 in Europe. Overseas deliveries passed 20,000 in a single quarter for the first time in the second quarter, up 81% from a year earlier, it said.
The range-extender layout is aimed at markets where public charging is sparse and summer temperatures routinely exceed 45°C. XPeng has staged its Gulf marketing around endurance in the heat. Its tour includes a retest in Kuwait of a heat trial it first ran in Turpan, in China’s Xinjiang region.
Dubai launch on Nov. 2
XPeng will hold a “Brand Night & New Product Launch” in Dubai on November 2, it said on X.
The brand’s distributor in the United Arab Emirates is Ali & Sons, which it signed in October 2024.
The G9L flagship SUV, the GX’s sister model, launched in Europe at the Paris Motor Show this month, with French prices from €74,990 ($83,700).
A growing footprint
XPeng said at the Paris Motor Show that it operates in 82 countries and regions, with eight research and development centers, six manufacturing bases and 1,283 stores. It did not break out how many of those stores are outside China.
That was up from 68 countries and regions and more than 1,200 stores, which XPeng reported in August.
In the Gulf, XPeng sells in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, and named Mohsin Automobiles as its distributor in Oman in September.
Ken Wang, XPeng’s regional head, said on October 13 that the brand had signed distribution agreements in Malta, Albania, Oman and Nigeria this year.
The Grand Xplore tour leaves from the UAE and visits Gulf countries including Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, according to XPeng’s October 6 presentation.
