On March 1, 2024, Xiaopeng Motors responded on its official Weibo account that a traffic accident that occurred in Wujiang, Suzhou had attracted social attention.
It is understood that the accident refers to a traffic accident on February 29th, when a Xiaopeng P7 caught fire on a rainy day in Suzhou, Jiangsu. According to online video footage, the accident vehicle was traveling at an extremely fast speed and crashed into a roadside obstacle at an intersection before flying off the road, causing the vehicle to quickly explode.
It is worth noting that this model was collectively complained about by over 200 experienced car owners at the end of last year, with the common reason being that the Xiaopeng P7's auxiliary driving function did not match the manufacturer's promotion. Xiaopeng Motors has previously responded to complaints from car owners, stating that in the future, the company will continue to upgrade XPILOT capabilities for users who have purchased the P7XPILOT3.0 software package. Due to the different hardware installed on different versions of models, the upgraded functions may vary.
In addition, Xiaopeng's car delivery volume in February also came under pressure. According to its delivery data released on March 1st, the company only delivered 4545 smart electric vehicles in February, a year-on-year decrease of about 24% and a month on month decrease of about 45%.
Xiaopeng P7 accident caught fire
Xiaopeng Motors responded in an interview with China Business Daily that on February 29, 2024, at 7:52 am, a Xiaopeng P7 traffic accident occurred in Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Xiaopeng expressed great sorrow for the casualties caused by the accident.
Xiaopeng Automobile stated that the company will actively cooperate with the traffic police department for investigation and processing. It has now received a data retrieval notice from the traffic police department and provided relevant data in accordance with the law. The data shows that the vehicle was in normal condition before the accident, without activating the auxiliary driving function. There was high-speed driving behavior before the collision, with a maximum speed of 169km/h and a speed of 145km/h at the time of the collision.
According to online video footage, on February 29th, two cars were racing on rainy days in Suzhou, Jiangsu. One of the cars lost control of its speed and flew off the road. Pink vehicles travel at an extremely fast speed, while white vehicles follow closely behind.
Subsequently, the pink vehicle collided with a roadside obstacle at an intersection and lost control, flying off the road. The vehicle immediately caught fire. It is reported that the starting train is Xiaopeng P7, which is severely damaged. Video footage shows that traffic police have been present to handle the situation.
Xiaopeng Motors had previously responded that after receiving a collision accident warning in the background, Xiaopeng Motors immediately made an outbound call and coordinated with local personnel to rush to the scene of the accident. At present, relevant departments have sealed off the accident site for detailed accident investigation, and the company has also cooperated with relevant departments to handle the accident. At the same time, necessary support and proper arrangements have been provided to the car owner's family members.
P7 has been subject to collective complaints
The reporter noticed that at the end of last year, the Xiaopeng P7 was collectively complained about by old car owners, with the common reason for the complaint being that the auxiliary driving function of the Xiaopeng P7 did not match the manufacturer's promotion.
According to the owner of the complaint, when he purchased the car in 2022, the official copy promoted that the Xiaopeng P7E version supported the upgrade from XPILOT3.0 to XPILOT4.0 service, which was not included in the car price at that time. He needed to purchase an upgrade package separately or spend an additional 80000-120000 yuan to purchase the Pengyi version. But so far, Xiaopeng Motors has not provided relevant services, and the OTA product manager has been avoiding the importance and explaining that lane level navigation and traffic light recognition are the complete version of assisted driving.
Later on, the basic versions of PRO models such as the G6, G9, and P7i of the entire Xiaopeng series included relevant software services in the car price, and the functions were even better than the old P7 model. Xiaopeng Motors is suspected of false advertising and failure to fulfill relevant service commitments in a timely manner, and has not provided relevant price difference compensation to existing users, damaging the rights and interests of relevant car owners.
Xiaopeng Motors has previously responded to complaints from car owners, stating that in the future, the company will continue to upgrade XPILOT capabilities for users who have purchased the P7XPILOT3.0 software package. Due to the different hardware installed on different versions of models, the upgraded functions may vary.
The reporter also learned that on March 1st, Xiaopeng Motors also announced the delivery volume for February. According to its released delivery data, the company only delivered 4545 smart electric vehicles in February, a year-on-year decrease of about 24% and a month on month decrease of about 45%.
To cope with the pressure of declining delivery volume, Xiaopeng Motors is expected to increase production and accelerate the delivery of the X9 in March. Xiaopeng Motors announced the expansion of its unlimited XNGP ADAS functionality to experienced users in China, making advanced driver assistance systems available nationwide.
On February 29th, Xiaopeng Motors also announced a partnership with Volkswagen Group to develop two B-class battery electric vehicles, paving the way for broader and deeper strategic cooperation in the future. However, further observation is needed to determine whether this collaboration can bring substantial performance growth and market share enhancement to Xiaopeng.