More “Autonomous Vehicles” at Guangzhou Auto Show

A few months ago, I wrote a piece on the EV models with highly automated driving features from the Shanghai auto show. Now the Auto Guangzhou 2021 just got wrapped up, it’s time to review some new models.

Saloon (Great Wall Motor) — Mecha Dragon

• Great Wall Motor owns several brands each with differentiated products and value propositions. Among them, ORA is for electric vehicles and Saloon, the new brand, is for premium EVs.
• Mecha Dragon is Saloon’s first production model, a four-door coupe with angular styling priced at RMB 488,000 for the first 101 pre-orders.
• Additionally from Great Wall Motor, Mocca NOH version is a new model from the premium SUV brand WEY. Mocca is a conventional fuel-powered car with newly added Navigation on Highway (NOH) features through cameras, radars and HD map combined.

Xpeng — G9

• Xpeng’s 4th model is a mid-sized crossover likely with third-row seats that is developed for both Chinese and global markets.
• G9 features multiple technologies from in-house development such as XPower 3.0 powertrain system with China’s first 800-volt mass-production SiC platform, X-EEA 3.0 architecture, and XPILOT 4.0 full-scenario assisted driving.

Neta S

• Neta S is a mid-sized sedan with a best-in-class 1,100 /800 km range, 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 3.9 seconds, and L4 autonomous driving capability powered by Huawei. It is highly anticipated that the price range of Neta S will sit opposed to Arcfox Alpha S HI (another model powered by Huawei with premium pricing).
• Neta Auto introduced its in-house developed Shanhai platform that focused on all around safety and security of new energy vehicles. Neta S is the first model based on the brand-new Shanhai platform.

Voyah (Dongfeng) — Dreamer

• Voyah is the premium brand for intelligent and electric vehicles under Dongfeng Motor. Voyah’s first production model FREE, a full-sized crossover, started delivery in July this year. The second model, Dreamer made its debut at the show, which is a MPV model looking luxurious from inside out.
• Dreamer could be one of the first electric MPV hitting the market in 2022. It will offer L2 automated driving features while specifications have not been provided yet.

WM Motor — M7

• WM Motor’s first sedan model, M7, comes with multiple impressive features, such as the world’s first touch-control design to shift gears, hardware configuration capable of L5 autonomous driving in the future.
• WM has been falling a bit behind the top tier players among new generation OEMs but it is determined to return with a model like M7.

AVATR 11

• Avatr Technology is previously known as Changan Nio, a joint venture between Changan and Nio. The pair didn’t move forward with Nio dropping out and Changan bringing in additional investors.
• Most importantly, Changan brought CATL and Huawei as strategic partners and the three co-developed the CHN architecture, on which 4 new models will be built as well as Avatr 11. Avatr 11 is a mid-sized SUV equipped with Huawei Inside (HI) intelligent solutions and CATL’s latest battery technologies.
• Avatr seems like a premium EV brand under Changan, just like IM Motors of SAIC, Arcfox of BAIC, and Voyah of Dongfeng. However, Changan pointed out that Avatr operates independently. While it can leverage the manufacturing expertise, it doesn’t carry the mentality of a traditional auto OEM that could be a burden sometimes.

AION (GAC) LX Plus

• Aion is the EV brand of Guangzhou Automobile Corporation (GAC). As the name suggests, Aion LX Plus is an upgraded version from the existing LX model. Besides lightly tweaked exterior and interior designs, it comes with range and power plus (1,008 km range, 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 2.9 seconds) and intelligent features plus (ADiGO 4.0 including 3 LiDARs).
• GAC Aion also introduced a brand-new X-Soul EEA platform during the show, consisted of 3 computing units and 4 domains supporting L4 autonomous driving. X-Soul will be applied to new models starting 2023.
• The LX model adopted the Mobileye EyeQ4 chips while it wasn’t clear which ones are supporting the 200 TOPS in LX Plus model. But the future models with X-Soul EEA will be using Huawei Ascend 610.