Xpeng committed to Australia despite TrueEV court battle

Xpeng says it is committed to Australia for the long haul but acknowledges it must build customer trust following its contentious change of distribution, which has landed the company in Federal Court and seen it honour cashback promotions offered under the brand's previous exclusive distributor.

The Chinese brand was launched in Australia in 2024 under TrueEV, which had a five-year contract to operate the brand here. TrueEV says it spent more than $60 million to establish this operation, commencing deliveries late in 2024 of the G6 SUV which was the first – and remains the only – Xpeng model in local showrooms.

Xpeng gave TrueEV notice on January 1, 2026 that it would establish its own factory distribution, which it publicly announced in April 2026. This proved contentious, with TrueEV launching legal proceedings and publishing a lengthy "True Facts and Timeline" account on its website. The Federal Court trial is scheduled to start in October.

Speaking to media, including CarExpert, in Melbourne, Xpeng vice chairman and president Brian Gu was careful not to comment in detail on the dispute, with the company's public relations team closely monitoring questions on the matter.

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"I think the message here is very simple. Xpeng is very committed to Australia. We're here to broaden our product offering deliver premium technology and service levels, and we will do whatever is necessary to make sure we meet that expectation from our customers," he said.

"We'll deal with the [TrueEV] situation, whatever it takes to resolve it. We’re very open. I think we share all the facts, and but the bottom line is that we'll do whatever necessary to protect our brand to provide the best services to our customers."

At the time of writing there remained two Xpeng customer-facing websites in Australia: Xpeng.com.au, established by TrueEV, and Xpeng.com/au, operated by Xpeng Australia and New Zealand.

When asked by CarExpert whether this could cause customer confusion and potentially damage Xpeng's reputation while the brand looks to establish itself here, Mr Gu said the issue was temporary.

"There may be a period of time we need to have to deal with some transitions. There may be some measures we have to, you know, may be inconvenient, but I think it's all short term. We want to focus on the long-term commitment here."

Mr Gu didn't comment on his view of TrueEV's performance in launching the brand here, or the reasons behind the decision to establish factory distribution.

When asked by CarExpert about the timing of the factory's takeover of Australian operations, given it came less than two years into TrueEV's five-year term, the Xpeng boss said a number of factors led to the move to factory-backed distribution.

"It’s part of the market development as well as also experiences related to our launch to date, so I think it’s not one simple thing. I'm not obviously commenting on the specifics because those are going to be handled by the professionals," he said.

Chinese rival BYD also shifted to a factory-backed Australian operation after launching through EVDirect in 2022, though that transition proved considerably smoother and caused little disruption for customers.

EVDirect also remained part of BYD's retail network, giving it an ongoing stake in the brand's success. BYD has since surged to as high as second place on Australia's sales charts in both May and June 2026.

Despite the public legal dispute with TrueEV, Mr Gu said Xpeng's focus remained on demonstrating its long-term commitment through products, technology and customer support. This included a recent commitment to honour cashback offers to customers of up to $5000, which were part of a TrueEV promotion.

"We have to convince customers through our actions, through our product offerings, through our technology offerings," Mr Gu said.

"We're committed to bring more products. We announced we’re going to launch five new products in the next six months. We are committed to build out a network of stores, service centers, parts depots."

Xpeng will also push to develop charging with local partners, as well as its artificial intelligence (AI) products.

"All these commitments together hopefully deliver a message that Xpeng’s here to stay. We're investing for the long term. We're not here simply just to launch a model or sell some cars."

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