- The Xpeng Mona M03 is a Chinese-made Tesla Model 3 rival.
- The pre-sale starting price is the equivalent of $19,000, significantly less than Tesla’s sedan.
- Xpeng claims the Mona M03 is the most aerodynamic mass-produced electric sedan.
The Tesla Model 3 is currently one of the best, if not the best choice for a brand-new electric vehicle in the United States. It offers a stellar package of decent range, very good energy efficiency, a top-notch software experience, a nice interior and the safety net of Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network and service network.
The story is a bit different in China, where Tesla has to fend off a myriad of local EV makers that are trying to make a name for themselves in an increasingly crowded market. One of those names includes Xpeng, which was founded 10 years ago and has a growing portfolio of EVs.
The newest member of that portfolio is called the Mona M03. It aims to significantly undercut the Tesla Model 3 on price but without sacrificing features, comfort and the perceived feeling of luxury. We wrote about the M03 when it debuted last month and now we know more about the budget EV thanks to a comprehensive review from our friends at Wheelsboy, who attended the car’s press drive in China. You can watch the video embedded at the top of this page.
With a starting price of under $19,000, Xpeng’s liftback sedan comes as standard with an SAE Level 2-capable advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), a front-mounted electric motor and a choice of two lithium-iron phosphate batteries made by BYD. The entry-level pack has a capacity of 51.8 kilowatt-hours and offers a claimed CLTC range of 320 miles, while the bigger 62-kWh pack boosts the range figure to 385 miles.
It’s worth noting that the CLTC testing procedure is one of the most lenient in the industry, so I’d take those range numbers with a grain of salt. That said, Xpeng claims the Mona M03 is the most aerodynamic mass-produced electric sedan in the world, with a drag coefficient of 0.194 cd. It also has a cavernous trunk that can accommodate up to nearly 22 cubic feet of stuff, partly because the rear suspension is of the torsion beam variety instead of a multi-link setup. However, as the reviewer points out in the video, the suspension is so well-tuned that it feels almost like a multi-link affair.
A Tesla Model 3, by comparison, has a starting price of over $30,000 in China, which is roughly 50% more than the Xpeng. That’s a lot of money, but I won’t jump to any conclusions–I’ll leave that to you, dear readers.
