WM Motor has demonstrated perfectly what “straight man building a car” means.
By Jingtao Wu
In recent years, there has been a clear “trend” in the global automotive market, that is, the market share of SUV models continues to rise. The SUV trend has even forced many “outstanding” supercar manufacturers to put down their pride and introduce their own SUV models, whose strong appeal can be seen.
Looking at the domestic market, in the just-concluded 2021, the market share of Chinese-branded SUVs further increased compared to the previous year, selling a total of 5.28 million units, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%. Under the trend of the continuous increase of SUV models in many segmented markets, the impact on the market of A-class sedans is relatively small, so the product layout of major brands in this segmented market can be described as extremely luxurious.
Not only traditional automakers, but also new energy brands attach great importance to this segmented market. Models such as BYD Qin PLUS EV, GAC AION S, and XPeng P5 are currently representative models with considerable strength in this market. With such an enticing “cake,” it naturally attracts many new players, and recently WM Motor has launched a new C-segment car – E.5, trying to take a share among these powerful competitors.
Utility first
Before talking about the specific experience of the new car, we need to introduce the configuration and price to everyone clearly. After all, talking about experience and cost performance without mentioning the price is nothing but “rogue behavior.”
The all-new WM Motor E.5 currently offers two models with the same power configuration, the Pro version priced at 180,100 yuan after comprehensive subsidy, and the Intelligent Travel version priced at 190,100 yuan. According to the official policy of WM Motor, the first 10,000 car purchasers can enjoy a 40,000 yuan discount. According to this discount, the terminal price of the all-new WM Motor E.5 is 150,100 yuan and 160,100 yuan. Based on this price, let us see how it performs.
Externally, as a family sedan, the all-new WM Motor E.5 has a body size of 471818381535mm, and the overall exterior design style is very simple. The front part of the car adopts a front face called “Soaring Flying Wing” by the official.The high-end version of Zhike Xing model is equipped with an interactive logo light, which is a rare highlight of the car’s exterior. During charging, it can display the progress of charging, and it can also present different interactive effects during unlocking, locking, and greeting.
On the side of the car, the all-new WM Motor E5 is one of the few models in the same category that uses a “short front overhang, short rear overhang” design, and the “short overhang, long wheelbase” feature makes the side of the car visually longer and smoother, while also enabling a wheelbase of up to 2810mm, which has greatly improved the interior space of the car. It can be said to be a win-win situation.
Paired with 18-inch wheels, window decoration bars extending to the C-pillar, and smoked taillights, the exterior design of the all-new WM Motor E5 is not eye-catching, but it is striving to give more details to this family-oriented car model. At the same time, WM Motor also provides “user-customized car” services with over 500 car colors (wrap films) for consumers to choose from.
The interior design also follows the design concept of the exterior, with no fancy or flashy elements, and everything is practical. At the online promotion conference, WM Motor officially proposed the slogan “standard is high-end”.
The first thing that catches the eye when sitting in the car is the central control panel with a 12.3-inch digital instrument and a large central screen. After a day of experience, as a new force brand, the two screens of the all-new WM Motor E5 are relatively average in terms of interface design, information layout, and display effects.
Especially for this LCD instrument panel, the display colors are relatively monotonous, and the information is absolute but scattered, which requires a certain “learning cost” to obtain information from the instrument panel when just starting to drive the car.
Fortunately, the “Living Mate” intelligent cockpit system has the support of the iFlytek 3.5 system for voice interaction, and it performs well in terms of user experience, which can bring back some user experience scores.
Under the central control T-shaped design, the all-new WM E.5 uses a rotary electronic gear shift mechanism without surprise, which is not uncommon in new energy vehicles.
It is worth mentioning that behind the gear shift knob, the all-new WM E.5 integrates the adjustment of kinetic energy recovery and driving mode selection into one roller. Pressing the roller selects the driving mode, while turning it adjusts the level of kinetic energy recovery. After a few uses, this design is quite handy for adjusting vehicle settings while driving blindly.
In addition, the spacious interior is another highlight of the E.5. Thanks to the longer wheelbase brought by the “short front and rear overhang” design mentioned in the exterior, this E.5 has a certain innate advantage in rear passenger space.
Coupled with a large 1.91 square meter sunroof, the car’s interior** offers excellent visual and seating space that are on par with the same level of vehicles.**
However, the seating position of the front seats is relatively high, which makes it difficult for drivers who are used to a lower driving posture to adjust to an ideal position. At the same time, the rear seats are not equipped with a central armrest, but instead a cup holder is placed below the rear air conditioning vent, which could have some impact on the functionality of the rear seats. These are areas that can be further optimized and improved.
On the static level, the all-new WM E.5 does not leave us with a striking impression, and there is even room for further optimization in some configrations and details. But thanks to its fundamental advantages, it can still take care of the family’s daily transportation needs quite well. Without pursuing fancy designs or eye-catching configurations, “practicality first” is the design orientation of this car.
Inside scoopAlthough it may seem unremarkable at first glance, the brand-new WM Motor E.5 provides a significantly more appealing dynamic experience than a static one once the car is driven.
Firstly, the power experience is worth mentioning. The brand-new WM Motor E.5 adopts a front single-motor layout with a maximum power of 120 kW and a maximum torque of 240N·m, providing energy-saving, comfortable, and sporty modes. During the product introduction, the WM Motor officials claimed that the power experience surpasses that of a naturally-aspirated 2.0L engine.
In my opinion, this statement is still relatively conservative. Although the brand-new WM Motor E.5’s absolute acceleration performance is not outstanding with a 0-100 km/h time of 8.9 seconds, its power experience will certainly surpass that of a 2.0L naturally-aspirated fuel car in the commonly-used 0-60 km/h speed range in urban commuting. Especially in stop-and-go traffic during rush hour, its smoothness and quick responsiveness will be further magnified.
In addition, the brand-new WM Motor E.5 provides 3-gear dynamic energy recovery intensity adjustment, which can achieve no, light, and heavy 3 gear recovery intensities. For a family sedan, this is definitely a commendable point.
In terms of endurance, the brand-new WM Motor E.5 is equipped with a 58.6 kW·h three-element lithium battery with an energy density of up to 160 wh/kg, which has a miles range of 505 km (NEDC condition). The car provides a battery pack heating system, and fast charging from 30% to 80% only takes 39 minutes. Due to time constraints, we can only wait for future testing opportunities to share with you the actual power consumption and endurance performance.
The chassis riding quality is the highlight of the brand-new WM Motor E.5 at the dynamic level. The most intuitive feeling is that compared with those same-price models we normally ride, the brand-new WM Motor E.5’s chassis texture is significantly better.
Especially when the car is uneven road surface, the overall integrity of the chassis and the toughness of the suspension in handling road potholes can be very intuitively felt, showcasing the mechanical level of the car’s chassis. For a family sedan that would frequently take the whole family out, the decent chassis driving quality is definitely a pleasing plus.
Do Straight Men Make Cars?
After experiencing it today, I would use the phrase “Straight Men Making Cars” to summarize my experience with this brand new WM Motor E.5. Compared to its competitors with eye-catching appearance, exquisite interior, and extremely topical configurations, this E.5 is too plain in terms of design and configuration.
Especially with passive safety configurations with only two front airbags across the entire line-up, and as a new energy brand, the auxiliary driving provides only basic ACC functions (no lane-keeping), the lack of these configurations is valued by many potential consumers, especially young consumers who are concerned about safety and technology configurations. This still needs improvement.
But at the same time, the official discounted terminal price range of this brand new WM Motor E.5 is only 150-160k RMB, yet it provides more than 500 kilometers of endurance, relatively spacious seating space, and power and ride quality that belong to an excellent level in the same price range.
It may be plain and boring in its visible aspects, but it has a decent practical experience in daily use. Obviously, this brand new WM Motor E.5 chose to put limited costs into areas that consumers are less likely to perceive in the showroom, just like an unskilled but gentle “straight man” who can’t talk nicely?
From the perspective of a consumer who is ready to purchase, can this practical-oriented approach without highlights impress consumers? This is a question that I am very curious about after experiencing this brand new WM Motor E.5. If it were you, would you choose such a practical-oriented pure electric family car?
At the end of the article, let’s have an awardless guessing game.
What is the function of the “BT” button in the picture? Can you guess the representative “straight male thinking” design?
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.