Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi, sparked a public outcry with his 169-yuan 'automotive-grade' tissue box. During the G7 launch event on July 3, He Xiaopeng, CEO of XPeng, specifically introduced his own magnetic tissue box priced at only 75 yuan, less than half of Xiaomi's offering.

A few days prior, Xiaomi's YU7 garnered 300,000 orders on its launch night. Lei Jun's events often result in Xiaomi selling in one day what others sell in a year. Emulating 'Lei-style marketing' has become the norm for corporate executives. At the G7 launch, He Xiaopeng transformed into a detail-oriented presenter, meticulously introducing features such as the electronic password glove box, dedicated phone storage, and small hooks.

XPeng's self-developed Turing chip, the star of the evening's launch, will be first equipped in the XPeng G7 ultra version. The ultra version is priced at 225,800 yuan, while the MAX version comes in two configurations priced at 195,800 yuan and 205,800 yuan, respectively.

At the event, He Xiaopeng announced the timeline for the VLA+VLM large model to be integrated into the ultra version, with free hardware upgrades and software version updates for new cars by November this year. XPeng previously stated that three Turing chips can simultaneously support the intelligent driving large model and the cockpit large model, with two dedicated to assisted driving and one working in tandem with the Qualcomm 8295 chip for the intelligent cockpit.

However, the Turing chip's full functionality in the intelligent cockpit domain won't be available until the November hardware upgrade. In other words, according to the launch event announcement, G7 ultra version owners will have to wait four months to experience the full capabilities of the Turing chip.

Emulating Lei Jun's Success

Within 9 minutes of going on sale, bookings exceeded 10,000 units. This was XPeng Motors' G7 sales report after the launch event. In a post-event interview, He Xiaopeng revealed that pre-orders for the G7 ultra version accounted for nearly 80% of total configurations, estimating that the ultra version would make up 60% of total orders.

Achieving over 10,000 bookings in 9 minutes surpassed Hongmeng Zhixing's Wenjie and the earlier large order achievements of the 2025 G6 and G9 models, which were '5,000 in 7 minutes' and '3,000 in 45 minutes,' respectively. Lei Jun personally promoted the G7 during a live stream a few days ago, remarking, 'If you can't wait for the YU7, consider new cars like the XPeng G7 and Li Xiang i8.'

Similarly, as 'domestic 7-series SUVs,' Xiaomi's YU7, with over 240,000 locked orders, poses competition for the XPeng G7. A few days ago, Chen Yonghai, XPeng Motors' vice president, stated on social media that it was 'absolutely impossible' for the G7 to sell for less than 200,000 yuan. Judging from the final starting price of 195,800 yuan, the XPeng G7 chose to maintain a strategic distance from the YU7. 'Our G7 and YU7 are not the same brand nor in the same market segment. We cater more to families,' said He Xiaopeng in an interview.

Although XPeng intends to differentiate the G7's positioning from the YU7, the G7 launch event still exhibited many elements of 'keeping pace.'

In addition to the details mentioned earlier, such as the tissue box, He Xiaopeng also promoted merchandise from the XPeng store during the event. To demonstrate the rear seats' anti-motion sickness function, he invited the internet celebrity 'motion sickness dog' for a live test. To showcase the seats' softness, he compared the depression after sitting down with a Mercedes-Benz car, then concluded that the G7 seats were '50% ahead of Mercedes-Benz' after digital measurement... A classic Lei-style comparison method was emerging.

Moreover, the XPeng G7 launch event concluded with a sentimental touch, similar to Lei Jun's PPT that reads, 'For those who carry responsibilities on their shoulders and still have a distant place in their hearts.' After all, even Lei Jun admitted in a recent live stream that many were moved by the sentiment at the end of the YU7 launch event.

Waiting for Chips and Software

Faced with a surge in orders, Xiaomi's YU7 has inadvertently become a futures product with a one-year delivery time. Similarly, XPeng G7 users must wait to experience the full Turing chip functionality.

After the launch event, XPeng Motors executives revealed in an interview that the cockpit chip of the ultra series has reserved the capability to install additional chips during development. With an extra Turing chip installed, it will pair with the current Qualcomm 8295 chip to run the VLM large model. This solution mirrors NIO's self-developed Shenji NX9031 chip + Qualcomm 8295 chip setup used in the cockpit.

He Xiaopeng stated that the three Turing chips boast over 2,200 TOPS of computing power. Upon accessing the VLA+VLM large model, the XPeng G7 will be the first car with L3-level computing power.

However, before the official integration of the VLA and VLM large models, the G7 ultra version likely won't directly reuse the NGP functions of other models. Since NGP is developed by XPeng based on NVIDIA's Orin chip, switching to the Turing chip necessitates software re-adaptation and development due to different algorithms.

This is understandable. Before the G7 launch, XPeng Motors executives stated on social media that the G7 is 'the hope of the entire city and village.' This underscores the G7's significance for XPeng in terms of sales and brand. Nothing proves XPeng's leadership in intelligent driving better than the mass production and launch of the Turing chip. Especially after Lei Jun announced that the entire YU7 lineup would come with a '10 million clips end-to-end version' from the factory, prior to the Xiaomi YU7 launch.

Observing competitors' actions, Huawei recently clarified its aim to achieve L3 commercialization by 2025 and has prepared the necessary hardware and software upgrades. Tesla is conducting Robotaxi trials in the United States, and a higher-computing-power Tesla HW5.0 version is likely imminent. Meanwhile, relying on its strong ownership, FSD continues to evolve and iterate in China.

At the XPeng G7 launch event, He Xiaopeng began by emphasizing the importance of emotional value. In the emotionally driven auto consumer market, being the first to launch captures consumer awareness. In the martial arts world, speed is crucial. He Xiaopeng expressed confidence that, despite the L3 standard not yet being set, the ultra version has redundant computing power, and even the dual NVIDIA chips of the MAX version have excess capacity.

An informed source revealed that the assisted driving software version for the G7 ultra will be OTA-updated alongside the all-new XPeng P7. The all-new P7 is expected to come equipped with a software version based on the Turing chip right out of the factory. In May, the all-new XPeng P7 completed its declaration, and rumors suggest that the new car will be released before September.

Before the launch event, XPeng G7 cars prepared in advance were ready for shipment to various parts of the country. Twelve hours after the G7 launch, XPeng had not released updated order data. The delivery period shown in the app remained the same as on the launch night, still 2-4 weeks.