What you’re looking at is the latest car from Chery but it will be sold by a new brand formed earlier this year and dubbed iCar. No, Apple has nothing to do with the brand, but Chery’s designers have created a sleek four-door electric sedan with some of the design chic that Apple is known for. iCar first came across our radar in April when it presented a striking SUV and an electric sports car concept at the Shanghai Auto Show. The sports car concept, known as the iCar GT concept, has now morphed into the TI 01 for production and while the car that’s set to hit the roads shares some elements with the concept, most of it has been changed.
The most obvious difference between the GT
concept and the TI 01 is that the latter is a four-door rather than a two-door.
Although it is unclear why iCar has gone in this direction, there’s little
doubt that the sedan has the chance of selling in higher numbers than a sports
car. The front of the production model is also quite a bit different with a
more restrained shape and smaller sideways T-shaped LED headlights and daytime
running lights.
The side profile makes a particularly bold
statement with flush door handles, black rocker panels, silver and black
wheels, and cameras in the place of wing mirrors. It doesn’t look quite as
sleek as the all-electric Lotus Emeya sedan but it’s not far off with a low
roof and a long bonnet. A large forward-facing LiDAR sensor is visible on the
roof.
Spin around to the rear and there are some
similarities to the concept but much like the front end, the proportions have
changed a lot. A set of smaller T-shaped LED taillights immediately catch the
eye as does the third brake light positioned vertically on the bumper.
Unfortunately, the large illuminated ‘i’ of the concept is nowhere to be seen. Technical
specifications for the iCar TI 01 from Chery are not yet known but we should
learn more soon, so stay tuned.
