Zhiche Auto Electric SUV
Another day and another new car brand
from China. This is the brand new Zhiche Auto, a new and fully electric SUV
that will be launched in a small series on the Chinese car market in 2017. The
yet nameless vehicle had its debut in Beijing
yesterday night, and earlier that day Zhiche Auto launched yet another new SUV on a home
electronics show in Shanghai.
A launch on a home electronics show is
no longer fuzzy, because with Zhiche Auto it is all about ‘interconnected car’
and ‘connected cars’, which in short means vehicles can connect with each other
and with the wider world, which includes the home and the office. The car’s
computers for example will be able to order the house computer’s to start up
the heating system when the navigation system knows the vehicle is heading
home. The SUV will also feature various autonomous-drive systems.
Zhiche Auto was founded in 2014 and is
based in Beijing, it focuses on the development of new energy vehicles (NEV’s),
smart-car connected systems, and related cloud computing systems. It is headed
by CEO Shen Haiyin, who formerly was president of Chinese e-commerce
website360.com, and vice president
of the Japanese software company Kingsoft.
Zhiche Auto cooperates with the Japanese
engineering company GLM, which was closely
involved in the development of the speedy Tommy Kaira ZZ electric racecar. The
company lists (scroll down) a
whole herd of companies it says it is also cooperating with, including Sharp,
BorgWarner, Desay, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, and Gemalto.
The car has a high tech interior with
loads of led and screens, but the wheel looks a bit flimsy. The falcon doors
open upwards for cool and easy access.
It looks fantastic in coupe-SUV style,
with sleek lines and big wheels, with the rear end especially well done. It was
designed by Chinese designer Du Baonan, who previously was
chief designer at PSA China, where he penned the Citroen C4L, among others.
Zhiche Auto has not released any details
about the drive train, but it does show a electric-car platform on its website.
The Zhiche Auto SUV is the latest in a
string of new Chinese electric cars and supercars or proposals therefore,
including the TechRules GT96,Windbooster Titan, Qiantu K50,
the Thunder Power, and the
controversial Youxia One.
