XPENG’s new coupe-SUV undercuts the Geely EX5, looks like a car that costs twice as much, and offers something no rival does at the price, a range-extender for the same money as the base EV.

Born again Down Under, XPENG has priced its new L03 with a very sharp pencil. The coupe-styled mid-size SUV starts at $41,900 plus on-roads, a whisker under the Geely EX5 and within shouting distance of the BYD Atto 3. The interesting bit is that the same $41,900 buys either a pure EV or a range-extender with a petrol generator hidden under the bonnet.

Nobody else in the segment is doing that at price parity.

The line-up opens with a rear-drive with a 445km range (WLTP). There’s a long-range model with 520km of range priced at $46,900, and at the top of the line-up sits the $53,900 AWD Performance Ultra with a 0-100km/h time of just 4.5sec.

But the biggest news is that range-extender model, the PowerX Long Range, which costs the same as the base car but comes equipped with a petrol safety net.

The PowerX uses what XPENG calls Kunpeng range-extender tech, and Australia and New Zealand are among the first markets outside China to get it. A 1.5-litre four never drives the wheels. It just makes electricity.

The car gets 215km on electrons alone, and with the 42-litre tank full, the combined range stretches to 1017km. Once the battery’s flat and the engine is doing the work, XPENG claims 5.5L/100km.

For anyone whose weekends involve the Hume, a caravan park, or a long stretch between fast chargers, that’s the one to look at most closely. All four variants tow 1500kg braked.

There are trade-offs. The PowerX’s smaller battery charges at just 6.6kW on AC and 123kW on DC (the Long Range EV takes 236kW), and it loses the frunk.

XPENG ANZ couldn’t say at launch which way it expects buyers to split. “The market is definitely going to tell us,” said Head of Marketing Damian Royce.

If you think the price tag is super sharp, the styling and equipment levels are too. The L03 brings the kind of crossover coupe styling usually found in premium showrooms to the mass-market buyer.

XPENG has doubled down on styling muscle. Former Ferrari exterior design chief JuanMa Lopez led development of the L03. For the Aussie launch, XPENG’s Shanghai studio boss and ex-Lamborghini and Bugatti designer, Joan Melenchon, was on hand to sing the new car’s praises.

At the Gold Coast launch, Melenchon was in no mood to apologise for putting a sporty coupe into a segment usually filled with sensible shoeboxes.

“We need it because we have data,” he said. Buyers want comfort, but “they also like a sporty attitude.”

He had sharper words for rivals whose EVs still wear grilles styled to feed engines they no longer have. “For me, it’s not honest,” Melenchon said.

His pride and joy is XPENG’s full-width front light signature. He claims they got there “before Tesla”.

A 15.6-inch centre screen and a 26.8-inch head-up display dominate the L03’s cabin, alongside 37 storage spots and the new XOS 6 software. The L03 is also the first car from an Asia-Pacific maker to run Google Maps natively, so there’s no phone mirroring required.

XPENG’s big pitch is AI driving. Its NGP (VLA 2.0) system runs on a trio of Turing chips claiming 2250 TOPS, but that hardware won’t be switched on here until 2027.

Whether you’ll pay extra for the functionality then, via a subscription, “hasn’t been decided,” XPENG ANZ insiders say.

Although pricing is public and dealer expressions of interest have opened, the L03 hasn’t yet cleared ADR approval, so delivery dates are still TBA.

But for now, it’s a well-priced, well-drawn car with a 1017km party trick nobody else in the segment can match for the money.