XPeng G9L Right-Hand-Drive Production Begins, Heading to Australia

XPeng's right-hand-drive programme reached a concrete milestone on 11 September 2026: the first batch of right-hand-drive production G9Ls rolled off the line at the Guangzhou plant, bound for Australia. It was reported at the time by 驭电江南 on Weibo, and the parts the first reports could not supply — local timing, and where the export car differs from the Chinese one — have since been filled in by Australian and specialist EV outlets.

What the line-off actually signals

The manufacturing detail matters more than the ceremony. The Guangzhou plant now builds domestic and export versions on the same line — not a separate, low-volume export process. XPeng's framing is "one quality standard worldwide", and it says the G9L is slated for 64 countries and regions.

That is the structural change behind the photo: RHD cars are now a normal output of the same plant that builds the domestic LHD cars, rather than a special run.

Safety and testing claims

The post also lays out the numbers XPeng is using to sell the G9L abroad:

• Five-star results from the four major global safety assessment bodies, with, in the poster's words, every part of the body built with enough protection;
• nearly three years of global road testing, covering 26 countries and regions;
• more than 6.74 million cumulative test kilometres;
• and, unusually, the claim that flying-car safety and quality standards have been brought into the vehicle development system — a reference to the standards from XPeng's sister flying-car programme being applied to the road car's development process.

Why this lands differently in Australia

For Australian buyers, RHD production is the gate that everything else waits behind: without a right-hand-drive build there is no local launch, no ADR compliance programme and no pricing conversation. The G9L is XPeng's large five-seat flagship, and it has been the subject of steady Australian interest — including right-hand-drive expectations tied to the brand's wider export push.

What the original post did not give was Australian timing or pricing. The timing has since been reported by Australian outlets — carsales on 15 September and zecar on 16 September: the G9L is due here in the fourth quarter of 2026, arriving after the smaller L03, with customer deliveries expected to begin in early 2027. Australian pricing has still not been confirmed.

One specification difference is worth knowing early. China sells the G9L as a five-seat SUV; export markets, Australia included, are expected to take six- and seven-seat layouts instead. At 5,120 mm long it lands in the territory of a Kia EV9, Hyundai Palisade or Toyota Kluger rather than the five-seat premium SUVs it competes with in China.

More from the line

Where the export business stands

The line-off lands in the middle of an export run that is now doing real volume. Reported figures for August put XPeng's exports at 8,125 vehicles, up 169% year on year, and 49,424 across the first eight months — already past the company's entire 2025 export total of 45,014, and about 20% of total deliveries in the period. Management has said it is targeting more than 60,000 sales in a single month during the fourth quarter, with new launches including the G9L expected to carry it.

That is the commercial reason the Guangzhou line matters: RHD G9Ls are not a niche build for a handful of markets, they are the next volume block in an export business that is being asked to offset a soft domestic quarter.

What is still open

• Australian pricing — the one number nobody has published.
• Local certification and safety timing — the five-star results XPeng cites are from the four global assessment bodies; an ANCAP date for the Australian car has not been announced.
• Specification confirmation — the six- and seven-seat layout, and which battery-electric and range-extender variants make it here, are expectations from the export plan rather than a published local line-up.

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Safety, testing and market-count figures are XPeng's own claims as reported by the poster and by the outlets above rather than independently verified results.

Source: 驭电江南 (Weibo) for the line-off; Australian timing via carsales and zecar; export figures as reported by zecar and CnEVPost — translated & adapted for XPENGTech.