DAILY: Ford Turns To China, Leno Drives Slate and Xpeng P7+ For Europe | 04 Feb 2026

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Welcome back to EV News Daily. Ford turns to China. Leno drives a slate and X-Pungs P7 Plus for Europe.

Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you about the British EV motorcycle manufacturer raising money to go global.

Ford has sent a delegation to China to deepen talks with Geely over a manufacturing and technology tie-up as western carmakers scramble to share rising costs of EVs and software.

The meetings in China follow sessions last week in Michigan between senior Geely executives and Ford leaders.

According to several people with knowledge of the discussions, the most advanced strand of talks would see Geely using Ford factory space in Europe to build vehicles for Europe.

Three people have said. Ford's plant in Valencia in Spain is the most likely site, one person added.

Producing in Europe would help Geely dodge the European Union tariffs of up to 37.6% for China-made electric vehicles on top of the existing 10% imposed in 2024.

A second track covers shared vehicle technologies, including automated driving and connected services, two people said.

That could help Ford close the gap with the likes of Tesla and Chinese rivals in software-defined vehicles.

Jim Farley, Ford's boss, has called China's edge in EVs and connected vehicles, I quote, the most humbling thing I have ever seen.

Talks, turns out, have been going on for months. Five sources said that the full scope remains unclear at this stage and may not yield a deal, including for the United States.

Any arrangement that brought advanced Chinese vehicle technology into the American market would certainly run into rules drafted under the Biden administration

that bans Chinese technologies and communications tech in connected cars and would certainly draw scrutiny from the new administration and Congress.

Those rules still stand, by the way, those Biden-era ones. There's no signal they would change either.

Geely, which bought Volvo from Ford back in 2010 in a deal that at the time raised many eyebrows. They paid just $1.8 billion for it.

Well, Geely sold over 3 million vehicles in 2025 through things like Geely Auto, its own badge, Zika and Lincoln Co.

That's a 39% rise over the previous year, including affiliates like Volvo Cars and Lotus.

It ranks as China's second largest automaker after BYD when everything's taken into account.

Not bad for a company that a couple of decades ago was making spare parts for washing machines.

Now, Jay Leno, obviously the famous Jay Leno, and massive car enthusiast as well, has an incredibly popular YouTube channel.

And he's driven the Slate Mini truck, prototype truck for his YouTube channel, months before the Model E then enters production.

Now, this isn't rare for him. He often gets extremely expensive, rare collectors cars on his channel.

He is, after all, a collector. He's got things like very old electric vehicles, kind of 100-year-old EVs in his collection.

He's a huge EV fan as well, but he's a huge petrolhead.

So many people really appreciate Jay Leno for just being into automobiles and not really caring having a take on powertrain.

He just loves cars, and so he's one of the few figures that really kind of crosses over.

He's not divisive in any way, so when he puts a video out, it's very important.

The firm pitched it as a five-star crash-rated vehicle built from the outset to meet full safety tests,

rather than try and dodge them with low-volume loop holes, and that sets it apart from a swarm of low-speed electric runabouts.

This is a small vehicle, this little Slate truck, this little double cab that they're going to make.

The prototype showed the usual rough edges of an early build.

That's not why they put it in Jay's hands. It shows the bones of a serious car rather than, you know, a fancy golf cart.

Engineers design the structure around crash performance first, then packaging the battery,

then the motors and the cabin, choosing proper crumple zones, reinforcing the passenger's cell,

doing all the things that you would do for a much larger vehicle.

Now, Leno's early access matters. It's not a celebrity endorsement,

but it is proof that Slate now feels ready to leave the lab.

His garage has housed most kinds of metal, so any half-baked toy wouldn't be entertained, frankly,

when you contact his team to say, do you want it on your YouTube channel,

and also he wouldn't really pull any punches. It's not really the long game that he's playing.

So instead, they got the car on for him to treat it as a work in progress,

and he was impressed. Designers also aimed at mainstream use, they say.

This isn't going to be just a pure working vehicle, things like last mile delivery, campuses,

or off-road use. When I say off-road, I mean, you know, certain communities,

maybe in Florida that are famous for golf carts.

The way they spoke about the crash scores make clear this Slate truck will be sold into markets

where regulators and insurers as well demand the highest of standards.

Now, that does raise costs, but it also opens the door to larger volumes down the line.

If Slate can carry its intent through to full certification,

it will land in a really interesting gap. Cheaper and simpler than premium electric cars.

People have made much of the wind down door handles and lack of car radio,

but in the same sentence, people also say, yeah, but I plug my phone in

and my phone updates itself way more often than my car, so that feels like car feels more current

because my phone is the interface and the dash.

Although this, of course, will have a display to meet things like the current

U.S. regulations around reversing cameras.

However, this will be usable, not a flimsy neighborhood EV.

For now, the prototype has been in Jay Leno's hands.

A long video, this extensive one, go check it out.

Link in the show notes if you're interested.

Now, let's talk about the X-Pung P7 Plus.

This is a very important vehicle because it's incredibly high spec

and it's an iterative vehicle.

This isn't something that's come out of nowhere

from an unknown Chinese company with high-tech specs.

This is X-Pung, so still classed as one of the Chinese start-ups, so to speak,

not a state-owned established combustion car maker,

but also the P7 is a vehicle that's had some experience

and now they're iterating on it.

It's a different way of China kind of maturing, if you like, in the market there.

X-Pung has now begun deliveries of its P7 Plus saloon.

It's a global car for them, so not just the China launch.

2026 model year, 36 countries is the market.

Much of Europe, obviously.

Germany orders will open or have opened rather,

starting at about 46,000 euros or 55,000 US dollars.

And the move matters less for adding yet another Chinese car into the market

and more for the way that X-Pung has sliced up its supply chains.

The new generation of the P7 Plus packs two distinct models under the name.

The sporty P7 and the family-focused P7 Plus.

That trades some flair for practicality.

Europe will receive three battery electric variants

while China gets an e-rev version as well.

A reminder that X-Pung still builds for its home market, sometimes exclusively.

The P7 Plus has sold in China for a year and now makes its European debut.

We saw at the Brussels Motor Show in January.

European-brown bound models, importantly, are made here as well.

They're made in Austria, in Graz.

The lines at Magna, contract manufacturer, will be making them.

Test production began before the Brussels premiere.

X-Pung not confirming full-series production yet in Austria,

so European buyers have no exact timeline.

At the first overseas, shipments at a port appear to be China-built cars for non-European markets.

Under the skin, the P7 Plus follows the industry's new kind of way of doing pure bevs.

A more modest battery size, but incredibly fast-charging.

An LFP pack, so lithium-ion phosphate, with 5C charging.

So 5C's C-rate is a way of expressing charge and discharge rates of the battery in relation to its size.

And so in real-world language, that means that you'll get 80% charge in 12 minutes.

Even with a maximum capacity of just 75 kilowatt hours,

the car will do 330 miles of range.

75 kilowatt hours is less than my Polestar 2,

which does, if I'm lucky, 200 miles.

Officially, and maybe in summer, I'll e-cat a little bit more,

and also the Polestar 2 is five years old now, and my one's really inefficient,

because it's the all-wheel-drive one.

But still, that shows how far the technology's come now.

Smaller battery, another 110, 130 miles on top of a car like mine,

which is still a pretty half-decent car at the end of the day.

330 miles with low consumption, high efficiency,

but if I plug in and get 150 kilowatts on my Chinese-made Polestar,

I'm pretty happy I don't do many long journeys these days,

and if I do, I've probably got the kids with me,

and if not, I still don't mind a cup of tea or coffee for 20 minutes.

This is a 12-minute stop, and a 5C charge rate on an LFP pack

that's very durable and likes to be charged,

wants to be charged to 100%, so no nannying the battery.

If X-Pan can scale the output in gruts,

this is going to be a very important vehicle to watch.

Now, let's talk a little bit about Opel and Vauxhall,

the new Astra, updated Astra.

Opel's opened the order books for the updated Astra

and the estate version, which I really like the estate version,

by the way, the Astra Sports Tourer.

Vauxhall, as we would call it here in the UK,

Opel on the European continent, fresh from there,

went world premiere in Brussels,

and the headline figure is a new EV range of 454 km,

which, very reasonable, okay, still less than the X-Pong

that we were just talking about, by about 100 km, actually,

but that still puts the Astra in the thick of Europe's

mass market EV contest.

You've got the standard range and the Sports Tourer,

and the Opel signalling that they expect most demand

in its core European markets.

So, the new Astra, with its 454 km of range

between charges, perfect for everyday use,

but also keeping the car in a price band

that is the mass market.

The Sports Tourer version, which does look very practical.

I'm glad to see the estate car moving to the EV era,

by the way, adding more boot space and practicality.

For drivers who perhaps do have families or pets

and want to put things in the back,

for now, Opel gives a little away

beyond its initial range figure,

apart from the fact that both versions will be

up for order at once.

More pricing details coming.

BMW is lifting the I-X3 price.

That's got to be a good sign, right?

I'm going to talk about the new Neuer-class of cars

and also California unveiling some more details

of its new $200 million incentive package.

Stick around, those details coming up after a break.

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BMW has raised the price

of its new iX3

before most buyers have even seen one.

And that's got to be a good sign, right?

Because we know the iX3 is the real deal.

They've raised the price

by 2,000 euros of the iX3 XDrive 50.

It's now 71,000 euros,

even though the official dealer launch

isn't until early March.

Demand is really high.

It's sold out for this year, by the way.

At its IAA premiere,

last autumn, BMW promised

a base price of 69,000 euros

for the European-only SUV.

Many expected the figure to fall,

as cheaper Chinese variants flood the markets,

also rear-wheel drive versions

and smaller battery versions coming.

Instead, the first change you get from BMW

is a price hike.

And whilst that's probably not good news

if you're in the market for buying one,

it's very good news if you think

about the supply and demand of this vehicle

and people want this new BMW

and they're impressed by it

with its new all-wheel drive setup.

108 kilowatt-hour pack,

800-volt architecture.

AC charging at 22 kilowatt,

I think is optional on that.

To double the AC power from 11 to 22,

it has a vehicle to load.

You can pull 3.7 kilowatts

out of it to run external devices,

as well.

They're making it in Hungary,

at Debrecen,

and it's already delivered the first unit.

It's the head of schedule.

I suspect to employees,

family members,

BMW enthusiasts,

because this is ahead of the official dealer launch.

But they are actually customer real,

customer deliveries, they say.

Well, I don't think BMW hasn't said,

but the press have picked up on

there are some being delivered a month early.

And so this is amazing.

These are blind orders.

There's no showroom cars.

No one's been taking these for test drives.

And yet they've sold out for 2026.

Americans get Neuerklasse

from the middle of this year.

Also from Hungary, by the way.

The Mexican output,

I think is due to start middle of next year.

Also, I'll double check on that.

Now, California will spend $200 million

on a new EV incentive scheme.

The latest in a long line of state efforts

to push drivers from petrol to plugs.

Gavin Newsom, the governor,

has sketched out more of the plan.

The program aims to narrow the gap

between list prices and what buyers pay at the dealer.

Officials say the money will support sales of bevs

and in time bolster the state's ban on petrol-only cars.

The fund will also seek to steady a market

that has grown incredibly quickly,

but at times nervously.

The state has not yet set out the full details

of the grants and rebates,

nor which groups of things like incomes

or regions or vehicle types.

It's also not said how long

that the $200 million will last

or how the money sits alongside existing incentives.

But the signal matters.

California shapes American car policy.

It's such a huge market.

There's a couple of options for car makers.

You either make a car to suit California

and all the states that follow it,

or you just don't bother with America.

The rules spread to other states

and push the car makers to shift their line-ups

for basically the whole of America.

A new pot of subsidy cash,

even one of the $200 million variety,

which is rather on the small side,

should feed through to the sales room floors.

The test, of course, will be in the details.

We don't know any of them yet,

apart from the fact that it's likely

to require the car makers themselves

to chip in a little bit of

matching, if you like.

So California is saying,

hey, we'll give $3,000 off your brand new car

if you do the same.

So I like that in principle.

We'll see how it's implemented.

As long as car makers don't just jack up the price

directly, it could happen.

It has happened many times

over the years with EV incentives.

Pricing can be

a little bit opaque.

However, we'll see how it's implemented

and where it's put in,

and also things like,

if you've had an EV before, do you get one?

Because arguably, the more rules

that you put in place, the less fair it is

if you had income rules and things like that.

But then it equally has good arguments

that if this is public money,

people earning

200, 300, 400,000 pounds a year,

not uncommon in California,

compared to those that earn less

or should we discriminate.

So it's contentious.

But we'll see how California do it.

I don't think everybody will be happy.

There's probably going to be a less than perfect solution.

But let's not

let's perfect be the enemy,

et cetera, et cetera.

Now let's finish off by talking

about maving.

Which motorcycle maker has raised

11 million dollars?

That's about, sorry, 11 million pounds.

It was 14 million dollars equivalent

to turn the quiet

British niche manufacturer into

something larger. The Coventry-based electric

motorcycle maker now has a bit more cash

to move beyond its home patch with plans

to scale production and push into Europe and North America.

Now, this round includes

about half a million

pounds from the West Midlands Co-investment Fund.

If you don't know what maving is, there's a really good

fully charged video.

You know, fully charged may have made

so everything electric may have made

a couple of videos over the years

about them. These little

motorcycles, depending on which one you buy

you can get them on different

so we have a really complex system of

licenses. It's probably not that complex.

I'm just a simpleton in terms of

if you can drive a motorcycle without

doing extra tests and if you can

and depending on when you pass your test

I pass mine in the 90s and so

I can ride them

on L-plates, which is the learner plate

up to a certain speed

and then if you want to unlock more speed

sometimes it's a one-day test

to get a bit of access for some people

and then otherwise you got to have a full motorbike license

it's not that complex.

I'm making it sound more complicated than it is

but maving make the bikes that you could, someone like me

could just get on and ride

with L-plates and

just have the lower powered version which would be

fine because

they're really stylish. They look so cool.

They look classic. They've got like

the rounded fuel tank

and the leather seat

and they just look so

good. Not that I'm allowed

to buy one. I can afford to have a bike

in the garage for Sundays

but man it would

be very, very cool and so

the founders of the company have built

I think a really loyal following.

They're not chasing big power figures

and bloated software. There's the RM1

and the RM1S

sitting in a power band that's a bit

like a 125. So

a 125 cc

petrol bike, a rear hub motor with that 11

horsepower and a top speed of around 70 miles

an hour. More

than enough for urban use. The key to this

is if you are using it for fun

at the weekends or urban use in the week

maybe to commute is

to get away from the lights quickly

and to ride safely around big cities

and maybe have some fun at the weekends as well.

It's not about top speed. It's about ease of use.

Removal belt battery system

the pack weighs 33 pounds

the battery pack is about 4.4

kilowatts, hours, about 80 miles

of range depending on how

you, you know, hard you twist the throttle

riders lift the batteries

out and plug them into a standard wall socket

no special charging kit. The rest

of the package is pretty sparse on purpose

a steel frame, conventional suspension

upright ergonomics is a bit of a

sit-up bike as well. Very unfussy

design but classic and stylish

with another 14 million

behind it the firm can now spend that on

manufacturing, sales, service

networks, things like that.

I've been checking them out on AutoTrader

as part of the research for this

story and spent far

far too long window shopping

for things that I can't have. That's great news

and congratulations to

the team there. Global domination

I'm sure is five minutes away.

That's your podcast for today. Thanks to our premium partners

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DAILY: Ford Turns To China, Leno Drives Slate and Xpeng P7+ For Europe | 04 Feb 2026

About this episode

XPeng P7 Plus

X-Peng P7 Plus

EVs

Geely

tariffs

software-defined vehicles

Ford Edge

Model E

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petrolhead

five-star crash-rated vehicle

prototype

Volkswagen Golf

X-Pung P7 Plus

model year

BEV

LFP battery

C-rate

Polestar 2

kilowatt

Opel Astra

Astra Sports Tourer

EV range

EV

boot space

BMW iX3

all-wheel drive

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