July 15 (NBD) -- A number of car buyers Saturday unfurled banners and demanded a refund in front of the automotive startup's service centers in Beijing, Guangzhou and other cities, according to media reports. 

This came after Xpeng's launch of the 2020 G3 SUV last week. According to those car buyers, the 2020 G3 is superior than the 2019 edition in both cruising range and cost/performance ratio.

Photo/Zhang Xiaoqing (NBD)

Some netizens left comments on Xpeng's official Weibo page saying that it is a understandable practice for auto manufacturers to upgrade vehicles, but it is not acceptable that their cars went outdated as soon as they got them.

"Just one day after I ordered my car, the new edition was released," a customer claimed. "Though the new model is priced slightly higher, it is 180km longer in driving range compared with the previous edition and also comes with upgraded braking and power assist system." 

Following the introduction of the new edition, buyers of the 2019 G3 expected Xpeng to replace high-density batteries for their models, or upgrade their models to the longer-range edition free of charge, or make a full refund. 

In response, Xpeng Chairman He Xiaopeng said in the letter of apology on Friday that for technical, safety and regulatory reasons, the carmaker couldn't simply extend the driving range by replacing batteries. But he promised that affected buyers can get an extra subsidy of 10,000 yuan in addition to all available promotional measures if they buy an additional or trade in for any Xpeng model in three years. 

Dissatisfied with Xpeng's compensation scheme, 2019 G3 buyers thus decided to return the models and claim a refund. National Business Daily noticed that the 10,000th G3 rolled off the production line in June this year.  

Automotive industry analyst Zhang Xiaolin said to Jiemian, "The traditional auto industry is highly mature, which makes every upgrading just a baby step to customers. Similarly, as automotive startups are immature in many ways, so there come new editions with great advances."  

But be it a big or small improvement of the products, companies should keep customers informed, Zhang added.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn