The Chinese manufacturer Kaiyi unveils its Shiyue, a small electric city car which could hunt in the territory of the Dacia Spring if it one day arrives in Europe. Its launch in its native market is planned for October.
More and more Chinese brands are starting to be known in Europe, such as BYD, Nio and Xpeng. But others, still unknown, are starting to emerge, such as Geometry and Avatr in particular, while the latter will soon arrive here. But here is a new one that should also be talked about in the future.
A cute city girl
Il s’agit de Kaiyi, which you have probably never heard of, and that is completely normal because it is not present on the Old Continent. The latter was previously called Cowin and was created by the Chery brand in 2014. Later, the young firm was partly sold to Sichuan Yibin Push Group and Yibin Automobile Industry Development Investment.
If the manufacturer until now sold old rebodied Cherys, today it is revealing to us a completely new car. This was prefigured by the i-EA 01 concept but takes the final name Shiyue. A name which was chosen following a competition, as explained by the Car News China website. It is on its Weibo page that the brand has just unveiled its new creation.
The latter takes the form of an adorable little city car, which however displays a fairly aggressive front fascia, which very slightly reminds us of the Smart #1 with its triangular lights. The rear pillar also seems to be taken from the small electric SUV Sino-German, while the rear part is very different, somewhat reminiscent of the front. The dimensions are very compact.
Indeed, the city car measures only 3.36 meters long, 1.70 meters wide and 1.61 meters high while it adopts a very square silhouette. The latter is also reminiscent of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV as well as the Air EV unveiled last year. We note the presence of handles integrated into the bodywork in order to improve the Cx (drag coefficient), which has not been revealed.
Killer of Dacia Spring?
The small electric car has a wheelbase of only 2.16 meters, which obviously does not leave room for very great habitability. However, given its silhouette, rear passengers should benefit from decent headroom. In total, there are four of them who can take a seat aboard the city car, which is equipped with a small digital handset and a 10.25 inch touch screen.
However, we do not know if it is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is unlikely for a Chinese car. Note that the car, which should also compete with the small Leapmotor T03 recently tested, is equipped with keyless opening and starting. But it is especially the Dacia Spring that should shake if it were to be sold in Europe.
La Kaiyi Shiyue se décline en deux versions, strong 35 and 40 kW, or 47 and 54 horsepower, compared to 65 horsepower maximum for the low-cost city car in its Extreme version. The top speed is set at exactly 100 km/h. Under its hood, two LFP (lithium – iron – phosphate) batteries are offered, offering a range of between 155 and 301 kilometers according to the Chinese CLTC cycle.
Which equals values between 131 and 255 kilometers according to the much stricter WLTP approval. For the moment, the price of this new arrival has not yet been revealed, but it should undoubtedly be located under the equivalent of 20,000 euros in China. An amount which should be revised upwards if this new arrival makes the journey to Europe.
