VW ID. UNYX 09 undercuts Xiaomi SU7 by 40,000 CNY at list price

Volkswagen Anhui launched the ID. UNYX 09, a large electric sedan developed with XPeng (NYSE: XPEV), in Hefei on October 24, 2026, at list prices of 179,900 to 249,900 CNY (c. $26,780 to $37,200). A Double 11 price of 169,900 CNY (c. $25,290) applies only to the entry Ultra trim in a black exterior and is capped at 500 cars, according to reports, so most buyers will start at 179,900 CNY.

There are three trims. The Ultra lists at 179,900 CNY, the fully equipped version at 219,900 CNY (c. $32,730) and the dual-motor Max at 249,900 CNY. When pre-sales opened on September 24, 2026, the range was 199,900 to 249,900 CNY, so the starting price fell by 20,000 CNY (c. $2,980) at launch while the top trim held its price.

The promotion is a 10,000 CNY (c. $1,490) cash subsidy limited to the black Ultra, and the launch offers cover buyers who place a deposit between October 24 and November 30, 2026. Volkswagen Anhui is also offering down payments from 33,980 CNY (c. $5,060) with three years interest-free, or nothing down over five years, with monthly payments from 728 CNY (c. $108). Buyers also get eight lifetime pledges, among them a free vehicle warranty, driver-assistance features and software updates.

The target is the large electric sedan class led by Xiaomi (HKEX: 1810). The second-generation SU7, launched on March 19, 2026, starts at 219,900 CNY, with the Pro at 249,900 CNY and the Max at 303,900 CNY (c. $45,240). That puts the cheapest ID. UNYX 09 40,000 CNY (c. $5,950) below the cheapest SU7, and it claims more range, at 755 km against the SU7 Standard's 720 km (447 miles) CLTC. The SU7 Pro reaches 902 km (560 miles), a figure the 09 does not match.

The SU7 has been slowing. Its September 2026 retail sales were 15,751, down 4.6% from 16,518 in August, which was already down from 21,044 in July. September was also 19.6% below the 19,579 sold in September 2025, when the first-generation car was still on sale.

The ID. UNYX 09 front end pairs split headlamps with a light bar and an illuminated VW logo across a body 1,980 mm wide (Volkswagen Anhui)

The car is long for its price. It measures 5,081 mm long, 1,980 mm wide and 1,509 mm tall on a 3,030 mm wheelbase, the same as the ID. UNYX 08 SUV. The fastback body has frameless doors, and Volkswagen Anhui offers a DLP projection headlight that can light a carpet of guidance on the road ahead and project lane-change and collision warnings onto the surface.

The Ultra and fully equipped trims use a single rear motor rated at 230 kW (308 hp), for a CLTC range of 755 km (469 miles). The Max adds a 140 kW front motor for a combined 370 kW (496 hp), reaches 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds and is rated at 705 km (438 miles).

Every version uses the same 91.963 kWh lithium iron phosphate pack built with CATL (SZSE: 300750) Shenxing cells, on an 800V silicon carbide platform. Volkswagen Anhui calls the ID. UNYX 09 the first Volkswagen-brand model with 5C charging. Its model page lists a peak charging power of 530 kW and 250 km (155 miles) of range in five minutes, and the company quotes 10% to 80% in under 12 minutes.

Driver assistance comes from the XPeng side of the partnership. A Turing AI chip with 750 TOPS runs a vision-language-action (VLA) model that supports highway and city navigation on autopilot (NOA), and a parking-space-to-parking-space mode can store up to 10 routes of about 100 km (62 miles) each. The parking system handles marked and unmarked spaces, memory parking across car park floors and 100-metre reverse tracing.

The sensor suite has 26 pieces of hardware: 11 cameras, three millimetre-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic sensors; none of the listed sensors is a LiDAR, according to one report. That sets it apart from the cheaper ID. UNYX 06 and 07, which Volkswagen Anhui refreshed on October 17, 2026, with roof-mounted LiDAR and a Horizon Robotics Journey 6H chip, and from the ID. UNYX 08, which runs two Turing chips with 1,500 TOPS.

Inside, a 15.6-inch centre screen runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295P chip, and an 85-inch AR head-up display rated at 12,000 nits covers three lanes of road. Both are standard across the range, while the fully equipped and Max trims add dual-chamber air suspension and DCC adaptive damping from ZF. The chassis uses front double wishbones and a five-link rear, with Brembo front calipers.

The ID. UNYX 09 cockpit pairs a two-spoke steering wheel with a slim cluster and a 15.6-inch floating screen; three interior colours are offered (Volkswagen Anhui)

The ID. UNYX 09 is the second Volkswagen model jointly developed with XPeng, after the ID. UNYX 08 SUV. Volkswagen (ETR: VOW3) agreed in July 2023 to invest $700 million in XPeng, and the two companies planned two Volkswagen-branded models on XPeng's platform and software. With the 09, Volkswagen Anhui now sells the 06, 07, 08 and 09 as a four-model family.

The 08 shows what pricing can do. It launched on April 16, 2026, at 229,900 CNY (c. $34,220), and after a September 12 refresh brought limited-time prices from 189,900 CNY (c. $28,270), its September retail sales rose to 1,188 from 379 in August, more than tripling. That is still less than a tenth of the SU7's monthly volume.

Volkswagen Anhui is leaning on its parent's engineering record to close that gap. The company says each model goes through crash testing with safety margins well beyond national standards and 3.5 million km (2.17 million miles) of durability testing across two winters and two summers. Liu Zhanshu, chief executive of Volkswagen Anhui's digital sales and service company, described the 09 as the brand's new design statement in battery-electric cars.

The 09 arrives with a 40,000 CNY list-price gap to the SU7, a longer wheelbase and, reportedly, no LiDAR. Whether a 179,900 CNY list price, rather than 500 promotional cars at 169,900 CNY, is enough to win sedan buyers from Xiaomi will show in Volkswagen Anhui's November figures.

Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7180 CNY as of October 23, 2026.