When the WEY VV7 was released at the Shanghai Auto Show last year, it brought rare excitement to the domestic car market.
A year has passed and WEY has achieved remarkable sales of 100,000 deliveries during this time. We can expect to see their first plug-in hybrid SUV, the WEY P8, unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April.
The Same Thrilling Look
Compared to the VV7, the front grille of the exterior has been stretched from a small hexagon to a trapezoid hexagon, improving the aggressive visual appeal.
The charging port is located on the left fender, although the design has a potential security issue due to its ability to open even when the vehicle is locked.
The back still has the four exhaust pipes, which signify the sporty nature of the car in addition to its hybrid economy.
The charging port and key design of the WEY P8 follow the same design language. The resemblance of the logo and the charging port design naturally fits the WEY brand as a new energy vehicle product line.
Overall, the WEY P8 offers an impressive exterior design for a hybrid SUV and is expected to be priced between 260,000 to 280,000 yuan after subsidies, positioning it in the same bracket as the BYD Tang. However, if placed side by side with the Tang, I would personally choose the P8 for its more comfortable visual appeal.
Great Wall [WEY] that Can Race
The image above shows that statement to be true.During the high-speed test drive, the highest speed of the car, the P8, reached 240 kilometers per hour, but the camera was not able to capture this value due to instability. The test driver revealed that the actual top speed of the car is higher than 240 kilometers per hour, but the instrument panel displays a peak value of 240 as an honest and reliable indicator.
The P8’s acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour is 6.5 seconds, which is a significant improvement compared to the VV7’s 9.8 seconds. In addition to the improved initial acceleration, the addition of the rear motor and second gear reducer will make the original combination of 2.0T and 7-speed DSG even smoother.
As one of Great Wall’s core strengths, the P8’s off-road performance is also quite impressive. The vehicle has a maximum power of 250 kW and a maximum torque of 524 N·m, and was able to handle a 60% slope on the test track in AWD/four-wheel drive mode with ease. Furthermore, in AWD mode, the P8 has three different off-road terrain settings: snow, mud, and sand, and performed comfortably during tests on all of them.
Although city drivers may not appreciate the P8’s off-road capabilities, they are an essential feature for users in Great Wall’s primary sales regions, namely second and third-tier cities with complex road conditions that require a four-wheel drive vehicle capable of driving on highways with ease.
The high-speed and off-road experiences of the P8 are inseparable from the Pi4 hybrid vehicle platform developed by Great Wall’s R&D team over five years. We applaud Great Wall’s decision to invest in the development of a domestic plug-in hybrid platform, and we expect this platform, with its intelligent control and four-wheel drive system, to accelerate the iterative development of WEY’s hybrid models.
Behind the cryptic name of the Pi4 platform, consisting of a combination of uppercase and lowercase English letters and numbers, lies the following explanation: “P” represents “Plug-in,” “i” represents “intelligent,” and “4” represents “4WD” or the four-wheel drive system. In simple terms, the platform includes a P0 motor located at the front of the engine and a P4 motor located on the rear axle.The selection of Pi4 is that the BSG motor at the front of the engine is responsible for engine start-stop and acceleration, and the drive motor is used on the rear axle, with a 2-gear reducer, to achieve the highest efficiency of electric drive and energy recovery function.
The design of Pi4 allows P8 to achieve three driving modes: 4WD, FWD, and RWD without a drive shaft. The transformation of the three driving modes also constitutes 5 driving modes of P8: AUTO / SAVE / EV / SPORT / AWD.
The Future of WEY Has Just Begun
On the basis of the car system of WEY VV7, P8 has no major innovations, but only adds some settings options of “hybrid power”. Although the 9-inch screen is touchable, the main design center of the UI is still controlled by the rotary wheel behind the gear lever, which appears to be relatively conservative for the current trend of canceling physical buttons and incorporating all functions into the touch screen.
After testing, the voice function of P8 is relatively average (as shown in the test video above). Specific logical phrases are needed to activate the function. Based on this, Shi Zhe Zeng, the technical director of the WEY brand, revealed that Great Wall has set up a research and development center specifically for car-machine interaction research in India, and it is believed that there will be more comprehensive improvements in the future.
In terms of safety driving assistance, P8 is equipped with the following features as standard: ACC adaptive cruise control system between 0-150km/h, FCW front collision warning, AEB emergency automatic braking, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, BSD blind spot detection, and LCA merging assistance. Although it does not involve automatic driving functions above L2, it is reported that Great Wall, occupying the geographical advantage of being adjacent to Xiong’an New Area in the Baoding factory, has gradually invested in testing L4 or above automatic driving with the cooperation of 5G network in the new district.
Some heartwarming features
- Streaming media rearview mirror
# Streaming Rearview Mirror: A High-end Configuration of P8
The streaming rearview mirror comes as standard for P8, enabling drivers to have a panoramic view of the rear of the vehicle and clearly see the situation behind when changing lanes on the highway.
- Air Quality System with AQS Fragrance System
Apart from the function of air purification, with great surprise, P8 is equipped with a fragrancing system similar to that of BMW 7 Series, collaborated with a library of small fresh air.
- Convenient Access to Seats
When shifting the gear to the parking position, the driver’s seat of the P8 will move backward automatically, making it more convenient and less crowded to get off the car. Next time you get in the car, the seat will automatically adjust to the preset position.
Summary
With annual production capacity reaching 100,000 units, WEY has delivered qualified questionnaires for its VV5 and VV7 products in the first year, and now the P8 is launched to add to its line of new energy products, making the product portfolio richer.
Based on VV7, WEY P8 still has high product strength in the same class. With a pre-sale price ranging from 260,000 to 280,000 yuan, it is close to that of the BYD Tang and higher than that of the Roewe eRX5. As a plug-in hybrid vehicle, it will eventually be more favored in cities where a first-tier license plate is restricted.
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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.