The latest episode dives into exciting developments in China's electric vehicle market, featuring the impressive Toyota bZ7, a sleek sedan poised to compete with premium brands. Great Wall Motor's new Aura Cat SUV is also discussed, alongside Xiaomi's rapid rise to becoming a top 10 automotive brand. The episode highlights the competitive landscape, including BYD's luxurious Yang Wang U8L SUV and the budget-friendly Arc Fox T1. Insights into local production strategies and market dynamics provide a comprehensive look at the evolving EV scene in China.
Topics:toyota bZ7great wall motor aura catxiaomi automotiveyang wang luxury vehiclesarc fox t1local production strategiesmarket dynamicselectric vehicle competition
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Welcome back to EV News China.
Coming up today, the Toyota BZ7 impresses the new Great Wall Motor Aura Cat and Xiaomi, now a top 10 brand.
Plus, stay tuned.
Later in the show, I'll tell you about the latest premium six-seat SUV coming in E-Rove form that has yet another massive battery.
Welcome to EV News China, the podcast dedicated to the world's largest electric vehicle market.
Each day, each weekday, at least we bring you the latest headlines, expert insights and analysis
from the heart of China's booming EV industry and reveal how these developments are shaping the global landscape.
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We'll start with news of GAC Toyota publishing the official images of the pure electric BZ7.
This is a low-slung sedan, scheduled to debut later this year,
looking every bit as premium as a low-slung Audi or Mercedes sedan.
This is really impressive, and long-time listeners to my other podcast, EV News Daily,
will know that I've been quite critical over the years of Toyota's anti-EV marketing and their slow walking to EV.
But in China, this looks like a very compelling product. Will we get it? Doubtful.
The vehicle measures over 5.1 metres in length with a 3.20 metre wheelbase.
It uses Huawei's Harmony OS cockpit and an electric drive system.
It's expected to be the first car integrated in Xiaomi's smart ecosystem.
The BZ7 is part of a wider push by Japanese automakers into China's EV market, where they're really struggling.
GAC Toyota launched the BZ3X in March this year, starting price of $110,000 RMB, about $15,500 USD equivalent.
The company said the BZ3X received over 10,000 orders in the first hour on sale.
Peng Baolin, GAC Toyota's VP of sales, said on Weibo, the BZ3X delivered 7,324 units last month in August alone,
a new monthly record, deliveries rising month on month for four consecutive months.
The BZ7 will join Xiaomi's human car home ecosystem, allowing actions like remotely controlling your home,
for instance, from your car.
A LiDAR on the roof supports mementos, advanced driving assistance.
The side shows a very low fastback profile, long triangular quarter glass,
quite distinctive from side profile, looking every bit, like I say, Audi Mercedes-Benz BMW premium,
frameless doors and semi-hidden door handles.
That's smart, what with China wanting to have a look at the regulations around completely retractable door handles.
The electric motor, that comes from Huawei 207 kilowatt motor, top speed of 180 kph or 112 miles an hour.
The battery pack, lithium ion phosphate from CALB, but the battery and the range not yet announced by Toyota.
I would say the only bit of this car that looks Toyota-esque, and they've got quite distinctive family resemblance
and face across many of their models, is the front really.
And even then, not massively so, you can probably tell it's a Toyota, but it could look like some of the Chinese things as well.
But from any other angle, I don't think you'd know this is a Toyota. This is a really impressive vehicle.
I like this a lot. Come on, bring it elsewhere.
Toyota, you know that if you want to go EV and stop talking them down, you could do it really, really well.
Great Wall Motors Aura brand is the Chinese EV brand, launched in 2018, offering affordable, stylish, pure bevs,
primarily at younger and female drivers in China, expanding overseas.
They came to Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Despite early success, sales then decreased sharply.
Aura declining to just 14,781 units in the first entire eight months of this year.
Newer competitors regularly outsold them at home.
Aura expanded into Europe, Southeast Asia and South Africa, Australia, Brazil and other markets with models like the Funky Cat,
otherwise known as the Aura03 and the Lightning Cat, the Aura07.
Sales figures were lackluster in Europe. Aura's cars often couldn't compete on key metrics against the other established players at those price points.
They weren't cheap cars. The BYDs, MGs, Tesla's even had much better performance and value
despite some of those Chinese cars also having much lower prices as well.
Now Great Wall Motor disclosed technical and design details for a new Aura branded SUV in a domestic filing by the MIIT.
The filing lists the model as the Aura Cat, with alternate names either Aura5 or Aurai5.
The vehicle appears intended for domestic sale because you couldn't sell the i5 outside of China
because I think BMW might like to have a conversation with the judge about that.
And it's the first Aura model introduced since 2022.
It'll sit between the Aura03 and the Aura07. That's the fastback.
Now according to new CPCA data, Xiaomi also delivered 36,396 vehicles last month in August.
That's a 19.5% month-over-month increase and a 178% year-over-year increase.
This is the second consecutive month with deliveries over 30,000 units.
Here's my regular reminder that Xiaomi has been in existence all of about five minutes in car terms.
At least their car business. The Xiaomi Su7 had 20,000 deliveries just under rather in August.
And the Xiaomi YU7, which has got 240,000 orders I think at my last...
No, it's got more than that. That was the first three days number, I think.
At the rate that they're delivering in August of the YU7, there's a 15 month waiting list.
Now, they'll obviously want to increase deliveries.
They'll obviously want to add production and they are adding facilities.
The YU7 delivered fewer than the Su7, about 20,000 for the Su7.
The YU7, 16,500 deliveries in August.
But combined, that now puts them solidly inside the top 10.
The top 10 August numbers on any of the ranking is BYD,
which is easily far and away ahead of everybody else.
Then GEELY, again, a bit of space between GEELY and everything else.
Then in third place, CHANGANG.
Then it's SGMW, Tesla, China, LeapMota, HIMA,
Ceres, Cherry and Xiaomi Auto in 10th place.
They have been in the top 10 before. Those numbers are solid.
Now, let's talk about Xiaopang.
Earlier today on September 15th, it was announced that they have now begun local vehicle production in Europe.
That's through a cooperation with Magnus Graz Ostria plant,
rolling the X-Pang G6 and the X-Pang G9.
They're both SUVs as the first two cars off the line.
X-Pang entered Europe in 2021, starting in Norway.
They are now in 46 countries and regions in the first six months of the year,
seven months of the year actually.
They sold 18,701 vehicles overseas.
In Europe, registrations alone were 8,000 units,
two-thirds of those were the G6 SUV.
Local production at Magna is intended to strengthen X-Pang's competitiveness in Europe
and reduce the impact of high tariffs, which was 20.7% on top of the existing 10%.
X-Pang's Graz line is its second overseas factory
after beginning production in Indonesia earlier in the summer.
The Graz operation uses existing Magna Stair production lines rather than a new plant build,
which is very sensible for small runs.
Magna is a contract manufacturer.
They make vehicles for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, JLR, Toyota.
They have flexible, low to medium volume, multi-model assembly lines.
The X-Pang plans will include expanded production at Magna with more models,
including sedans and dedicated EV platforms with more mid-size and compact SUVs.
They say the Munich R&D Center supports the expansion
as they learn about European portfolio needs and local buy preferences.
At the IAA show last week, X-Pang displayed the P7, the new G6 and G9,
their big MPV, the X9, and the P7 Plus.
We'll talk a little bit about the X9 in just a moment.
But first, let's talk about X-Pang's G7 EREV.
This has a battery-only driving range of 267 miles, that's 430 kilometres,
and it will be in the market in the first quarter of next year.
Regulatory filings with the MI-IT include images and specifications of the G7 EREV,
it's actually 26 millimetres longer than the Bev version, with the same wheelbase, though.
The front end keeps the X-Pang face with the continuous light strip
and the split headlamps.
New air vents sit beside the headlights
and the bonnet has sculpted creases.
The side is kind of coupe-like with a sloping roofline.
Sculpted doors, quite pronounced surfaces.
The G7 EREV adds a rear-facing camera, or a couple of them actually,
on the front fenders.
Flush door handles and floating-style door mirrors.
Powertrain details, you might be wondering, so what does this thing go like?
A 1.5-litre extended-range engine.
God, that's just such a common engine to put in these vehicles, isn't it?
Alongside, it says 110 kilowatts, paired with an electric motor,
which is 218 kilowatts,
because that does all of the heavy lifting in terms of driving the vehicle.
Energy storage of this EREV is a 55.8 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion phosphate
supplied by EVE Energy, that's the pack at least.
This thing looking, I don't know, every bit a Model Y competitor.
Really aggressive pricing on this.
The BEV trims start at 195,800 yuan.
The EREV version, you would think, I don't know,
you would think would be a little bit cheaper.
Not a vehicle that we can go and get yet.
This is a China vehicle of course, the G7.
And the EREV version, you would think,
again, probably going to be pretty popular.
Let's finish off talking about X-Pong today,
and that would be the G, sorry, the X9.
The X9 is a seven-seat MPV,
and they will reveal the EREV version in October,
the company announced on Weibo.
Hu Xiaoping, the chairman and CEO,
shared a poster showing the X9 EREV
with its 800 volts architecture, 5C charging.
The poster he shared online said 280 miles
or 450 kilometers of CLTC battery range,
and almost 1,000 miles or 1,700 kilometers
are fully fueled with liquids and electrons.
Now, X-Pong said that it has placed more than
1,000 test vehicles into the service
with 800 days of cumulative testing
in 20 countries and 330 cities.
For 20 million kilometers or 12.4 million
cumulative miles of testing,
sub-zero, high-heat and high-altitude.
Filing data shows that this is still a large vehicle.
Of course, it's a seven-seat MPV, 5.3 meters long
and 3.16 meters on the wheelbase.
Range extended version, again, really common,
1.5-liter engine at 110 kilowatts
or 150 horsepower or so.
Lithium ion phosphate from CELB.
This one's so big, though, 63.3 kilowatt-hour pack.
Wow, it's just such a huge pack for what is,
essentially, a plug-in hybrid vehicle
just with a new name, EREV.
Delivering that 280 miles of range,
the 800-volt system will deliver 5C charging,
peak charging rate of 316.5 kilowatts.
316.5 kilowatts is more than
nearly every other pure-bev
with a big battery can do.
This has still got to...
I mean, it's a chunky battery,
but it's not over 100 kilowatt-hours or something.
5C charging, massive peak rate on that.
And yet somewhere, they've put an engine
to recharge the battery if you want to fill it with liquids.
Again, we're entering a fascinating stage
of the China market,
and I know the Western carmakers are kind of looking
enviously because they want to use
their engine technology some way.
But the question that has to be asked
and that I don't get many good answers to
is when you own an EV that'll do,
well, well over this amount of miles,
almost 300 miles of electric range.
Why on earth are you adding combustion technology?
And all of the complicated things that will need service
in 5, 8, 10, 12 years' time
that will require...
If it's not in the home market,
if it's overseas, an extensive dealer servicing network,
because the oily bits will inevitably go more wrong
in time than the electrical bits.
And so, part service.
I mean, apart from just filling it up with liquids,
which is just a pain in the backside if you ask me,
but still, these extended range vehicles
have such long ranges
and such fast charging
that, so why would you buy the ERO version?
And yet, they are very, very popular in their home market.
OK, we'll take a quick break.
I have a slurp of this kwafi.
And then we'll come back and talk some yang lang.
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Alright, welcome back to the podcast.
BYD's Yang Wang brand,
which is that premium brand,
because I've been talking recently
about the Yang Wang record setter.
If you are a Patreon supporter,
by the way,
and you are signed up at any of the paid tiers,
you can be a free Patreon supporter
of the podcast, and that just gets you
access, I think, to leave the comments
and stuff like that. I'm going to rework that in a little bit.
But also, if you're a paid
supporter of the podcast,
well, then you can
get access to the special shows
that we make seven days in advance.
And one of the ones that I made over the weekend
was the top 10 fastest
EVs in the world
ranked. And the Yang Wang
U9 track edition
did pretty well in that list.
I won't give all the
speed details away, if you haven't listened to it yet.
No spoilers in the
podcast feed. The Patreon fans get those
shows seven days before
anybody else exclusive
access. And then that'll go onto the free feed.
So that'll be this weekend, Saturday
20th of September. That'll go live at
8pm on the ad supported
free feed as we count down the top
10 fastest by top speed
EVs in the world.
Needless to say,
Yang Wang's a bit special. But what about
the U8L? Well,
this one won't be winning speed records,
but you will get wherever you're going
in exceptional comfort.
This one is ridiculous because
and I mean ridiculous in a good way.
Of course, I'm not ridiculing it. Let me
be very clear about that.
The U8L
is the long wheelbase version
or the long version of its
full size SUV. This is called the Ding Shi
Edition. It starts at
1.28 million
RMB. That's 180,000
US dollars equivalent
Pre-sales were 1.3 million RMB.
So typical China
strategy at the minute we see very commonly
putting on a pre-sale number and then
trying to beat that to exceed
expectations. Always good delivery start
by the end of the month that we're in in September.
So, the long wheelbase version
5.4 meters long
vehicle,
3.25 meter long wheelbase.
This thing is
a tank. I mean it's not a tank, it's a brand
isn't it? But this thing is utterly
enormous. It looks
like just a huge escalade.
The 6 seat U8L
uses BYDZ
4 platform with
4 carat real gold emblems.
BYDZ's
Dialink 300 system. On a 3
nanometer chip technology
displays are the 12.8 inch
OLED curved central
screen. A 23.6 inch
infotainment panel
co-pilot multimedia screen.
It's got an augmented reality
head up display. A
21.4 inch ceiling
screen that falls down for the
second row. The
BYD E4 platform
means it can do 0 to 62 miles an hour
100 kph in 3.5 seconds
a minimum turning radius of
5.45 meters or just 17.8 feet.
It supports
things like tyre stability control
in a blowout. It'll do a tank turn
it'll do a crab walk. It'll float on water.
The vehicle has 13 driving modes
some snow, sand and flooding
modes. A 2 liter engine
on the ERO version of this.
So 55.5
kWh. Blade battery
it's obviously BYD.
And 4 electric motors. Over
1100. Almost 1200
horsepower in this
pure electric range of
124 miles. Total range
720 miles.
Loads of chassis
and top end systems control
from BYD. Godseye A smart
driving with the Dipilot
600 drive resistance system
and like I'd say
the luxury of this.
The second row particularly
zero gravity seats, headrest speakers
18 point massage
smart armrest screens
legrests, tables, wireless
charging for your devices
32 speakers, 1.7
square meter
panoramic sunroof
heating
or a heated
refrigerator. I think if it is a refrigerator
but the refrigerator will heat as well
and I suppose call it that. 13
USB ports so you're never
short of charging your devices
and 128 color ambient lighting
as well. This thing like it's far too
nice to put my kids in the back of it
but if you are traveling in the second or third
rows of this you will be traveling
in extreme luxury
and comfort as well. Those captain's
chairs look well just next
level. Okay let's move on
Arc Fox the EV division
of BAIC launched the T1
compact electric SUV
with a starting price of just
$62,000 RMB that's about
$8,800 US dollars equivalent
so we're going right to the other end of the market
compared to that Yang Wang
and although this is a very small
cheap city car
this thing looks I think
really impressive
and so look 8,500 US
equivalent they reported
over 26,500 firm orders
within the first 12 hours of launching
it goes up against the BYD
Dolphin front wheel drive
either 70 kilowatt or 95 kilowatt
two battery packs
33 or 42 kilowatt hours
we first saw this at the Shanghai Auto Show
earlier this year in April
and they're now starting
to roll off the production line
but for what is essentially
very very much a
budget friendly
EV very simple
small little drivers
display behind the
three spoke steering wheel
a decent sized landscape
tablet screen
a couple of buttons but otherwise
very very simple interior
but it looks nice
and from the outside
there's just nothing that even compares
to this outside of
China this is sitting right in a
segment of
if this car came to western markets
a double that price it would still be
easily
so much better than anything
it's looking kind of
chevy balty
even triple the price and it's still
very good value
in that it's the ARKVOX T1
and finally
Voya is Dongfeng Motors premium
brand releasing official images
of their new flagship SUV
called the Taishan the model uses
their smart hybrid system 6 seat layout
with a 65 kilowatt hour
battery
there's 230 miles of range
over 870 if you add some liquids
5C charging on this
battery a waterfall
style shield grill
on the front face here integrated LED
strip again this is very much
this this is like a mini escalate
to be honest with you but it's got a
kind of two tone
at least in the pictures I'm looking at right now
two tone body color that makes it look
very Rolls Roycey now it's
segment by the way the Yang Wang we talked about
just a moment ago was a Rolls Royce
competitor but this
with the star door handles
the two tone
body color the full width tail light
5.2 meters long 3.12 meter
wheelbase huge vehicle
four LiDAR sensors
using Huawei's
Shankun ADS4
and Harmony Space 5 cockpit
with air suspension rear wheel
steering it will
probably be listed as the Voyer 9L Taishan
the new flagship
is expected to be produced against
models like Ito's M9
or the Zika 9X car news China
reporting where I'm looking at this
story starting price of
450,000 Yuan
which is $62,000
US dollars
insane value for a car
that looks well again just like a
massive six seat
luxury hauler
but this one looks very very
very luxurious
not maybe as much as the car
we talked about a moment ago the Yang Wang but still
incredible but this is a third of the price
and that is your podcast for today
thank you for listening to EV news China
we did this as a trial back in the
early summer went down very well so it's back
as permanent as permanent is ever of anything
so I hope you enjoy this
series of EV news China
unpacking what's happening in the east
for my listeners in the west
thanks for listening and we'll catch you on the next one
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if you're the purchasing manager at a
manufacturing plant you know having a
trusted partner makes all the difference
that's why hands down you count on
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with on time restocks
your team will have the cut resistant
gloves they need at the start of their shift
and you can end your day knowing
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if you're the purchasing manager at
a manufacturing plant you know having
a trusted partner makes all the
difference that's why hands down you
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