LvChi, best translated as ‘Green Carriage’. Chinese name is Lüchi. They will
make only electric cars and want to have their first one on the market by
mid-2019. At the brand’s launching ceremony they unveiled a good looking
concept car called the Urano.
LvChi has a logo showing a leopard’s head, and their
website shows this ultra sleek image of a robotic animal. They are
headquartered in Shanghai with a design operation in Italy. The factory is
under construction in Changchun city in Jilin Province. Initial annual capacity
in mid-2019 will be 50.000 units, going up to 550.000 in 2023.
The company has big plans, they have
developed three EV-platforms and that they will launch 8 cars until 2021. These
cars include the production version of the Urano, a high-end sedan, an MPV, a
mid-size sedan, two SUVs, and two smaller cars. The production version of the
Urano will be launched in mid-2019, followed by a mid-sized SUV, also in 2019.
The company showed a slide of the SUV during the
ceremony. It looks great, modern and tech-ish, and original enough. Their
English however need some work; what to make of “Thousands of ingenuity, ends
its shape”.
Back now to the Urano, a spectacular four-door
coupe. LvChi claims it has 700 hp and 900 Nm, good for a 0-100 km/h in just 3.5
seconds. It can do 690 kilometers on a full charge, or 500 kilometer using the
NEDC standard. Dimension size is 4960/1970/1470 mm, and wheelbase is 2960 mm.
The dash comes with a sporty instrument panel and an
enormous touch screen over the entire width, supplemented by pad-shaped touch
screen in the middle. The concept is a four-seater with suicide doors.
It all sounds very promising but of course it is yet
unsure if LvChi will ever bring a car to the market. They are serious enough
but not much is known about their funding and about their technology, and they
could do with a better English name.
