China Auto Thread

[StraightEdge]

I like this! Not sure about the tyres, but looks cool.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747230105783677139

 

[Yommie]

Voyah Dream: Luxury Electric MPVs Don't Have To Be Hideous​

 

[Yommie]

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/motoring-news/all-the-new-chinese-car-brands-headed-to-australia/news-story/73d1df36fef1435d0b285c65ed16b8c0

All the new Chinese car brands headed to Australia​

Several Chinese makers have firmly established themselves Down Under and now the next wave of manufacturers are preparing to take Australia by storm.
Dom Tripolone

2 min read
January 17, 2024 - 11:02AM
News Corp Australia Network

In the first nine months of this year, Australians have bought more than 145,000 Chinese vehicles – up 75 per cent on last year.

A new Chinese rival to the Toyota Prado could soon be on our roads.
Little known brand Changan will build its tough Deepal 4WD for right-hand drive markets according to UK publication Autocar.

Changan has plans to build its Deepal 4WD in right-hand drive.
Details are scarce but early reports suggest the Deepal will be built on a rugged ladder frame, which underpins hardcore machines such as the Toyota LandCruiser and Prado.
It is also expected to come with hybrid power, using a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and two electric motors found in the brand’s current Chinese market vehicles.
Autocar says the vehicles will be built in a new Thailand factory, which bodes well for an Australian launch.

The Deepal will be built in Thailand.
Thailand is a manufacturing hub for some of Australia’s favourite four-wheel drive utes such as the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Mitsubishi Triton.
Chinese car makers are increasingly choosing to launch in Australia as their popularity grows.
China is now the third biggest export of cars to Australia behind only Japan and Thailand.
MG is now firmly established as a top 10 selling brand in the country and GWM, Haval, BYD and LDV are all experiencing booming sales.

The Deepal will be built on a rugged ladder frame.
Other Chinese makers that are forging ahead with right-hand drive machines including Nio, Lynk and Co and Zeekr.
Nio is an electric only car maker that allows for the battery in its cars to be swapped to avoid lengthy recharging times.

Lynk and Co has plans to launch by 2025.
Electric car maker Lynk and Co announced in 2021 that it was targeting a 2025 launch for its cars in Australia.
In Europe, Lynk and Co is trialling a subscription model, where customers pay a monthly fee for use. The flat fee includes insurance, registration and roadside assistance.
Lynk and Co is owned by Geely, which also owns Volvo and Polestar. Its vehicles will use the same hardware as those brands.
Geely also owns Zeekr, which has plans for the UK and likely Australia, too.
Zeekr recently showed off a new battery that can charge at an astronomical rate, adding 500km of range in 15 minutes.

Zeekr has developed the current fastest charging car battery.
The new battery can accept a charge rate of up to 500kW. Currently the highest rate of charge offered on an electric car is 350kW by Hyundai, Kia and Porsche.
Haval also recently revealed its new H9 large seven-seat 4WD, which is likely to be offered in Australia in the future. Haval has quite an extensive range of vehicles on sale in Australia and the previous version of the H9 was sold here until recently.
New Chinese brands such as Chery say Australia is an important market as it is highly competitive and lets them test the waters before expanding to other larger western markets.

 

[Yommie]

Changan Deepal SL03 is a futuristic looking electric car

Deepal SL03 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Yommie]

The Deepal SL03 Is A Cool But Compromised EV Sedan​

 

[Yommie]

China's Changan coming to Australia with Toyota Prado rival

One of China's largest car companies has set its sights on Australia with a new hybrid four-wheel-drive planned to be produced in Thailand.

www.drive.com.au

China’s Changan coming to Australia with Toyota Prado rival​

One of China's largest car companies has set its sights on Australia with a new hybrid four-wheel-drive planned to be produced in Thailand.

---

Greg Kable
08:00 15 January 2024

Changan – the fifth-largest car maker in China – has announced plans to sell a new range of 'Deepal' vehicles in Australia, starting with a four-wheel-drive pitched at the Toyota Prado.
The Chinese car giant – which sold 2.55 million vehicles globally last year, and is active in 60 markets worldwide – has unveiled the third production model from its Deepal sub-brand, a five-metre-long four-wheel-drive known codenamed G318.
Officials from the company say it will be produced in right-hand drive in Thailand for export to global markets, including Australia – but the factory building it will not be ready until 2025 at the earliest.

Deepal will be hoping to emulate the local success of Chinese brands such as MG, Great Wall Motors (GWM) and LDV, after sales of Chinese-made cars overtook those from South Korea for the first time in Australia last year.

The Changan 4WD is the latest in a number of dedicated off-road models from Chinese brands, designed to rival the GWM Tank range – including the 300 sold in Australia – plus the FangChengBao from BYD, and the Jetour from Chery, both sold in China.
Its styling combines a boxy shape with rugged details such as a tailgate-mounted spare wheel, and contemporary cues including a blanked-off front fascia, C-shaped LED headlamps and a roof rack housing four driving lights.

No technical details on the G318 have been published, however Changan representatives say it stretches to almost five metres in length.
They also hint it is based on a new heavy-duty ladder-frame chassis aimed at providing it with greater wheel articulation and off-road ability than Deepal's previous two models, the L07 sedan and S07 SUV, which are based on passenger-car underpinnings.

It is also unclear what will power the G318, however it is expected to be initially sold with a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid system in which the petrol engine acts as a generator to power the electric motors that drive the wheels.

The Deepal L07 and S07 combine a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and two electric motors – one powering the front wheels, and the other driving the rear wheels – for 192kW combined.
In the other Deepal models, buyers are offered the choice of 28.4kWh or 19.0kWh lithium-ion batteries good for hybrid driving ranges of between 515km and 1200km in lenient Chinese CLTC lab testing, depending on the battery and fuel tank capacity.


As well as being charged by the petrol engine while driving, the battery can also be plugged in on an AC or DC charging system.

The Deepal L07 and S07 are also available as purely-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles but it is unclear if these options will be available with the G318 4WD.
Officials from parent company Changan have told Drive the Deepal brand – launched in 2022 – plans to enter Asian and European markets and achieve annual sales of 450,000 vehicles by 2024.
This represents more than 17 per cent of Changan’s overall global sales of 2.55 million in 2023.

As part of its global push, the Chinese car maker is investing 8.8 billion Thai baht ($AU375 million) in the construction of a new vehicle manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand.
Set to produce left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive vehicles, it is planned to reach an annual production capacity of 100,000 cars in its first phase in 2025, increasing to 200,000 examples over the longer term.
The Rayong, Thailand plant will act as a right-hand-drive production hub for global markets, including Australia.
In a statement made during a signing ceremony with the Board of Investment of Thailand in October 2023, Changan said it would export cars to the Australian, New Zealand, UK and South African markets.


Together with Deepal models, the new plant is also planned to produce models for Changan’s other sub-brands, including Avatr and Qiyuan (Nevo).
Changan says it plans to launch 15 New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) – the Chinese term for plug-in hybrid, electric and range-extender hybrid vehicles – and aims to increase its group sales to over five million vehicles by 2030, of which 1.2 million sales are earmarked to be in markets outside of China.

The Chinese car giant also operates joint-venture operations with Ford and Mazda in China.
Changan-Ford’s plant in Chongqing is Ford’s largest factory by volume outside of its manufacturing headquarters in Detroit, USA.

 

[Yommie]

The MG 4 is the BEST car I've driven all year!​

 

[Yommie]

Long-range hybrid crossover Lynk & Co 09 EM-P 12:10 - Social Bites

Chinese brand Lynk & Co has presented an updated hybrid crossover 09 EM-P, which can travel almost 1,500 km without refueling. In this respect reports carnewschina.com. Prices for the model start from 307.8 thousand yuan (3.8 million rubles at the exchange rate at the time of publication). The...

socialbites.ca

Long-range hybrid crossover Lynk & Co 09 EM-P 12:10​

ByANIKA
January 17, 2024

Chinese brand Lynk & Co has presented an updated hybrid crossover 09 EM-P, which can travel almost 1,500 km without refueling. In this respect reports carnewschina.com. Prices for the model start from 307.8 thousand yuan (3.8 million rubles at the exchange rate at the time of publication).
The size of the crossover is comparable to the Volvo XC90 and Mercedes-Benz GL. Passage length is 5042 mm, width is 1977 mm, height is 1780 mm and wheelbase is 2984 mm. Ground clearance – 180 mm. The cabin can accommodate six or seven people, depending on the version.
The updated model has an improved interior. In particular, the size of the central screen of the media system was increased to 15.4 inches, and instead of physical buttons, a double climate control deflector was placed under it.
The car is equipped with the plug-in hybrid powertrain EM-P, consisting of a 2.0-liter gasoline turbo engine and three electric motors with 555 hp. Power reserve is 1430 km.
The package includes leather seats, ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, air freshener, 14-speaker Bose sound system, adaptive cruise control with lane keeping function and traffic sign recognition system.
Previously reportedthat the new Geely Atlas crossover will cost 3.2 million rubles in Russia.

 

[Yommie]

The XPeng G9 Isn't A Porsche, But It's Still Very Good​

 

[Yommie]

Chinese-brand passenger car sales soar 24.1 pct in 2023 - People's Daily Online

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese-brand passenger vehicle sales jumped 24.1 percent year on year

en.people.cn

Chinese-brand passenger car sales soar 24.1 pct in 2023​

(Xinhua) 08:39, January 17, 2024
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese-brand passenger vehicle sales jumped 24.1 percent year on year in 2023 to 14.6 million units, industry data shows.

The market share of such vehicles hit 56 percent last year, 6.1 percentage points higher than in 2022, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The market share of new energy products among domestic-brand passenger vehicles stood at 49.9 percent, according to the association.

China's auto sales surged 12 percent year on year to top 30.09 million units last year. The sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 9.49 million units, surging 37.9 percent year on year, earlier data shows.

 

[Yommie]

How China's BYD Overtook Tesla​

 

[Yommie]

Tesla Model 3 v BYD Seal: DRAG RACE​

 

[Yommie]

Testing the Model 3’s Arch Rival! (BYD Seal Performance 2024 Review)​

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

China's BYD To Switch From Pouch To Prismatic Cells For Its PHEVs Over Leakage Concerns | Carscoops

According to inside sources, BYD will switch to safer prismatic battery cells for its plug-in hybrid models

www.carscoops.com

China’s BYD To Switch From Pouch To Prismatic Cells For Its PHEVs Over Leakage Concerns​

According to inside sources, BYD will switch to safer prismatic battery cells for its plug-in hybrid models

BYD will stop manufacturing pouch-type battery cells for its plug-in hybrid vehicles due to durability concerns and risks that they could leak over time.

While neither the car manufacturer nor Chinese regulators are aware of any cases of batteries leaking, the company believes that the pouch-type cells it produces have a higher chance of leaking electrolytes than some alternatives. As such, it recently started converting production lines for these cells at factories in the Shaanxi and Zhejiang provinces to instead produce prismatic batteries.

BYD has encountered issues with its pouch cells before and in 2022, recalled 60,000 examples of the Tang DM-I hybrid because they had a battery defect that could lead to thermal runaway. VW started moving away from these types of batteries in 2021 and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has also recommended against their use.

All of the carmaker’s current plug-in hybrids use blade-shaped battery packs with pouch cells and these PHEVs accounted for 48% of the new cars it sold last year. The new battery it will use in future PHEVs will be similar in structure to the Blade battery that its battery-electric vehicles currently ship with.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Tesla Model 3 v BYD Seal: DRAG RACE​

Full version of the review