The family’s own value system when it comes to car preferences has worked reliably for us for many years. My husband dreams of one VW bus
, the children are still raving about their trip BMW i7
. Yours truly is one of the outcasts anyway, as I allowed myself to drive a Japanese car, a Mazda, as a student. When it comes to automotive matters, the family group is very German.
Photo series
Xpeng 9
5 pictures
Photo:
Xia Hao / Xpeng
But that’s over now. My men’s patriotism ended surprisingly quickly. With a big bang, if you will!
Photo:
manager magazine
manager-magazin editor Margret Hucko is both a passionate everyday cyclist and an expert in car matters. For mm, she tests a different executive vehicle every month.
A Chinese man, of all people, messed everything up. I emphasize the geographical origin of the G9 because the German auto nation increasingly afraid of cars from China
and because the importance of the country of manufacture is currently being hotly debated in the European Union. So far my husband has followed the arguments of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (66), that the subsidies in China also distort the market in Europe. But now? After enjoying a result of China’s industrial policy, he ultimately wanted to buy the G9.
Why? The G9 is a successful car in every respect. From the outside it looks like a more modern continuation of a Range Rover, undeniably a design icon.
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Technical data
Length/width/height (m): 4.89/1.93/1.67
Weight (kg): 2340
Drive: all-wheel drive
Power (HP): 551
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in seconds: 3.9
Range in km: 520
Price in euros: 71,600
Inside, the first thing you notice is the two large screens in the cockpit. One is reserved for the passenger; the pilot cannot see it for safety reasons. So the co can chill out with films while driving. Or with entire series: There is enough time, the larger battery in the test car allowed a good 500 kilometers in everyday life without stopping. Thanks to 800-volt charging technology, the G9 charges 80 percent of the battery in around 15 minutes, making it significantly faster than mainstream automobiles. When driving, the G9 pampered you with almost French driving comfort despite its generous 551 hp – air suspension makes it possible.
The G9 offers a lot of things as standard that are only available from European competitors at an additional cost: from automatic parking and exit assistance, for example, to lane departure warning. The car is also significantly more digital. Updates come over the air. The clean and tidy cockpit is also impressive. Only the number of buttons is so reduced that it is not always practical. Why can the fuel filler flap only be opened electrically (!)? Didn’t make sense to me.
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In the end, we consoled ourselves with the fact that the G9 comes from China, but somehow it fits into our family’s own value system. VW has a stake of around 5 percent in the Chinese car manufacturer, and the XPeng G9 is also a bit VW.