On April 16, Chery Automobile officially released the independent new energy brand – iCAR brand. At the same time, two new models under the brand were also unveiled, one is the iCAR 03 positioned as a hardcore pure electric SUV, and the other is a concept car iCAR-GT. According to the official statement, the target group of the iCAR brand is aimed at young people, and its products will cover sedan, SUV and other products; the brand LOGO uses tangram as the source of creativity to create an intelligent and interactive brand image full of warmth and imagination .
In fact, the iCAR brand is an upgrade based on the existing iCAR ecology, and it is mainly aimed at a more advanced segment of the mainstream consumer range of CNY150,000 to CNY400,000. In the future, in Chery’s new energy segment, two independent and parallel brand product lines, Chery New Energy and iCAR, will work together. It is worth mentioning that the LOGO of the iCAR brand was designed by Professor Cao Xue, the chief designer of the mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Bing Dwen Dwen. Using the tangram as the source of creativity, it creates a warm and imaginative, intelligent, and Interactive brand image.
◆ iCAR-GT
iCAR-GT is a concept car, which adopts the design concept of infinite light arc, and has a high degree of overall recognition. Specifically, the car adopts a closed front grille design, and a large number of aerodynamic kits are added to the front of the car. For example, the front enclosure adopts an extended lower lip to further improve its aerodynamic effect.
The rear part of the new car also uses a design connected to the rear window glass, and the tail adopts a slightly raised duck tail design to enhance the sense of sports. At the same time, its taillight group adopts a double “T” shape, and a rounded triangle dot matrix flowable light group is added to the edge for embellishment. Of course, as a concept car, it is equipped with a new style of low-drag wheels, which is highly recognizable.
As for the interior, because it is a concept car, the designer has made bolder attempts on the overall shape, such as the bracket-shaped steering wheel, the large-size floating central control screen, and the two circular touch buttons on the hand box to complete the gear shifting. The way of operation makes this car look more technological. At the same time, iCAR-GT has a very curved sky design, which extends from the front of the car to the rear, optimizing the visual space inside the car.
◆ iCAR 03
iCAR 03 hard-core pure electric SUV will adopt a relatively square shape overall, with short front and rear overhangs and a four-door design, and the body will be a steel-aluminum hybrid body structure. Specifically, this car will be equipped with a roof rack, a large sunroof, five-spoke wheels, a small square external school bag (or a storage box/toolbox), and support NFC one-key unlocking, etc.
According to previous information, in terms of body size, the length, width and height of the new car will not exceed 4200/1830/1700mm, but the wheelbase will reach 2700mm. In terms of power, this car uses pure electric drive and will launch a variety of range versions. In terms of configuration, it is expected to be equipped with iCAR’s smart cabin smart driving technology and more than 20 smart sensors to achieve L2+ level automatic driving.
According to the official statement, this car has a built-in all-aluminum beam with a 30% increase in strength and is equipped with 10 driving modes. In terms of power, although not much data has been released, the official said that this car will have a power level similar to that of a 2.5T engine.
Product planning
According to the official PPT, iCAR will launch 5 products in the future and 4 major product series covering the whole category, including ARV, SD, SUV and MPV. At the same time, it not only has multiple models, but also has multiple powers (Drive: rear-wheel drive/four-wheel drive; power: pure electric/extended range), multiple voltages (400V/800V), etc.
