The Avita 11 made its first appearance in November last year, and people were struck by its unique design. Some asked if it was a concept car, while others found the design of the front and rear too unconventional to accept.
In my experience of social media, when a new design language enters the public’s view, their resistance is not always about its beauty. There is a 50% chance that they don’t like this design style, and another 50% chance that this design is unprecedented in the market – so new that people find it difficult to accept at first glance.
This is rare in the current automotive design world, especially in the heavily homogenized new energy design circle.
After more than six months, the Avita 11 was officially released at the Chongqing Auto Show, and it was nearly 100% faithful to the prototype. Not only did the official release more detailed technical information about the car, but it also exhibited the complete interior and exterior for the first time. After experiencing it in person, I can say that this car brings me a long-lost, positive freshness.
An Unconventional SUV
The good looks of a car depend in large part on its side ratio. Generally speaking, cars with a low stance, long body, and high wheelbase have a better visual effect. The thickness of the vehicle body below the window line and height of the car also have a significant impact on the car’s appearance.
Tesla Model 3 and Model Y are a classic example of this. Although the exterior features of the two cars are almost identical, the higher and thicker Model Y is visually less appealing than Model 3.
Surprisingly, the Avita 11 has a size that caught me off guard – its height is only 1,601mm.
If you don’t have a concept of this data, let’s take a look at the height of some new energy cars that you may be familiar with:
- NIO ES7 1,720mm
- Volkswagen ID.4 1640mm
- Tesla Model Y 1624mm
- Ford Mustang Mach-E 1,621mm
- Extreme Krypton 001 1,560mm
Avita 11, with a car length of 4,880 mm and a car width of 1,970 mm, is even lower than many SUVs in height, which is 20 mm lower than the already low-profile Mach-E.
On such a slender and low-profile body, Avita 11 is equipped with a set of 265 40/R22 large wheels, which further reduces the visual thickness of the body. So when I saw the real car of Avita on the field, I immediately felt a very strong sense of coupe style.
The beautiful proportion of the side lays a good foundation for the appearance of Avita. When you get closer to the car, the light and shadow changes of the black metallic paint outline under the sunlight add some appropriate sophistication to the car. The high-gloss black two-color body under the car door creates a low-key and restrained sporty atmosphere, while silently reducing the visual thickness of the body.
Walking back and forth on the side of Avita 11, if I didn’t know before, I would probably think this was a French or Italian brand.
However, the most unique part of the exterior of Avita 11 is the tail.
Here, we can see the through-type taillights that have become the iconic design of current electric cars. But on this car, this taillight is not a simple one-dimensional straight line, but a curve on the horizontal plane: the taillights extend from both ends to the side of the car, and the curvature almost becomes a rounded corner. It gives people an effect that the rear of the car gathers from both sides to the center.
This effect also appears on the upper and lower angles of the rear of the car. The curve of Avita’s rear suspension has a slightly upward trend, and after being covered by high-gloss black, the attention is easily drawn to the black area rising up at first glance.
The back of the vehicle has a vertical design that starts from the rear window and reaches for the step-like “vacuum area” between the trunk lid and the roof. This is not only unprecedented, but also highly recognizable, making it the finishing touch of the tail.
Opening the trunk, you will find the mystery: Avita 11’s trunk is not connected to the passenger cabin. It is a three-box car.
The three-box design has advantages and disadvantages for Avita. A non-hatchback SUV is undoubtedly at a disadvantage in terms of trunk space compared to models of the same level. In fact, after folding down the second row of Avita, we can find that the folding angle of the second row seats is not flat, and there is a step between the second row seats and the trunk.
But the advantages brought by the three-box design cannot be ignored. This structure makes it easy to achieve higher body structure stiffness, which can achieve better vehicle lightweighting under the same stiffness target.
Another advantage is that the three-box structure is more advantageous for NVH of the vehicle. For the Avita 11, which is aiming at the luxury market, “quietness” is an important basic support for vehicle high-end feel. The trunk partition brought by the three-box design will make the noise control of this car more like a sedan. Speaking of NVH, it is worth mentioning that the Avita 11 has RNC active road noise cancellation function.
It is not difficult to see one thing in the choice of SUV three-box structure: the Avita 11 is a product dominated by design and style. In order to create a unique product appearance and vehicle characteristics, practicality can even be compromised in some cases.
Isn’t this exactly the main reason why French cars and Italian cars are so appealing? After all, high-end texture and luxurious atmosphere are often the most desirable and powerful.
In terms of appearance, let’s take a look at the front of the car. Unlike the “same but different” taillights, the shape of the Avita 11’s headlights has a considerable degree of originality. The double-layer daytime running lights that almost occupy the 2/3 of the front face are like the laser eyes of robots in science fiction movies, making the daytime running lights the absolute visual main body of the front face.
The vehicle headlights are silently placed at the bottom of the daytime running lights, without starting another style of headlights like most separate-style headlights, cleverly ensuring the smoothness of the light strip.
Personally, I think that it is very important that the double-layer daytime running lights of Avita 11 do not have the “four-eyed feeling” of other separate-style headlights when they are turned on. The upper light strip is more like the eyebrows in the front face, which not only does not invert the visual position but also further strengthens the visual suggestion that the lower light strip is the “eyes” of the vehicle.
After recalling for a while, it is difficult for me to think of which car on the market has adopted a similar headlight design. Therefore, the Avita 11 has a rare front face recognition among electric vehicles today.
In daily life, people will dislike wearing the same clothes, and when driving, they will also dislike “looking the same” as others. I think the owners of Avita 11 do not have to worry about this.
The Interior Design that Goes Against the “New Forces”
I don’t know when it started, but the interior design of electric vehicles gradually formed a trend: physical buttons in the car should be cut off, the screen should be in the center of the front row, and all lines should be flattened and straightened as much as possible.Remove the physical buttons is understandable because the electrification of automobiles is increasing. However, pursuing the flat design of interior decoration without any relevance is simply a trend-following and lack of independent thinking.
The way AVITA handles this matter in interior design is reassuring.
Just like the appearance of this car, the first impression of sitting into AVITA 11’s interior is the strong sense of novelty.
Firstly, the bold color scheme is unforgettable. In my opinion, there are very few people who choose red interior options, which are mainly from small and niche product lines of luxury brands, or some top-class car brands like Porsche and Ferrari. These products all emphasize the personalized design and sense of luxury.
Before AVITA, Chinese car brands also used red interiors, but unusual colors are actually the amplifier of the design’s temperament, so the higher the requirements for the basic design lines and the atmosphere, the more the sense of value and the mainstream feel will be lost if the color scheme is not handled properly.
The AVITA 11 I experienced uses a high saturation of Burgundy red, which can highlight the “leather feel” of the material. Both the first and second rows of seats are wrapped in red leather, which looks and feels very textured.
The interior is paired with the main color of Burgundy red, the same depth of the Night Blue, and the champagne gold with a built-in highlight. Golden decorative strips are mainly used to separate and inlay various borders of the interior parts, and the car interior has a visual sense of luxury in the combination of gold and red.
Night Blue is mainly used in the upper part of the interior with the vehicle window edge as the boundary, which ensures the vehicle’s insulation effect in a dark color while reducing the driver’s attention when driving.
The second point that AVITA did well in interior decoration is the use of various three-dimensional designs.
The hug-style design of the AVITA 11 front seats from the car door to the instrument panel can make people feel the sense of wrapping of the interior. The seat adjustment button on the door panel does not use the commonly used seat-shaped simulated design. Instead, it is replaced with a set of metal-rosette round buttons with large switch damping, giving a very solid feel.
The three-spoke steering wheel uses a suspended design on both sides without being connected to the airbag cover, and the central gold AVITA logo is also a three-dimensional relief structure.Switching to a different angle, the stereo behind the central control screen in the AVITA 11 has an artistic design resembling a whirlpool, and its back has an air outlet shaped like whale gills that can be adjusted left or right.
There are many similar three-dimensional structures used in the interior of the AVITA 11. The structure behind the front seats, which is shaped like a handle, also hides the Type-C charging port for the rear seats.
Next comes the interior ambiance. This feature is more evident in the four-seater model, as the ambient lighting system encircles the entire car, providing a cohesive feel. There are surrounding ambient belts of light in both the front and rear rows, which create a welcoming atmosphere for passengers as soon as the doors are opened.
Immediately following the atmosphere is the rich scent permeating the car’s interior, which further strengthens the luxurious ambiance for passengers. Once inside, it feels as if you have been whisked away to a luxurious bar, where opulence meets comfort.
All of these features are rare and even absent in interiors of new energy vehicles today. The AVITA’s interior design does not focus solely on simplicity, but rather takes the opposite approach, similar to that of Mercedes-Benz, to create a visually luxurious feel that is delightful to the eyes.
At the same time, this car’s interior does not lack the characteristics of new energy vehicles. There is no gear shift, and there is no start button other than the seat and window controls as well as the functional area on the steering wheel. Virtually no entity buttons are located elsewhere, and the electric steering wheel adjustment and the co-driver glove box opening switches are also integrated into the in-car central control system.
In conclusion, it combines the luxury and ambiance of traditional brands with the interactive logic of new energy vehicles, and is truly a luxurious and technological interior.
The Unique CHN: More Than Just Appearance
I believe that the interior and exterior design of the AVITA 11 in today’s smart electric vehicle market can capture the hearts of many users. However, what initially caught everyone’s attention about this car was not just its superior appearance, but also the companies behind it—Changan Automobile, Huawei, and CATL.The three companies, each representing the leading level in the fields of vehicle manufacturing, intelligentization, and power battery, have come together to create the CHN platform.
In a quick summary of the CHN platform, there are two aspects to consider. Firstly, in terms of electronic and electrical architecture, it is an intelligent platform that features deep decoupling of software and hardware, as well as strong computing capabilities. Secondly, in terms of the vehicle itself, CHN is a pure electric platform that boasts high performance, long range, high safety standards, and high scalability. Let’s delve into more details.
Three-electric Configuration
Since it is an electric vehicle, the three electric aspects are of great concern to everyone. The CHN platform’s power batteries are supplied by CATL and can be compatible with capacity ranging from 90 kWh to 135 kWh, with supported voltage platforms ranging from 400 V to 750 V. CATL’s application of various technologies such as big data warning for power batteries, suppression of thermal runaway, and monitoring of thermal out of control has ensured the safety of the battery system.
The AVTA 11 uses a 750 V high voltage platform, with a charging speed of up to 240 kW. It comes in two versions, with power battery capacity of 90 kWh and 116 kWh, respectively. The latter has a system energy density of up to 190 Wh/kg.
With large batteries and high-voltage fast charging, the CHN platform also adopts Huawei’s TMS (Thermal Management System) in which, as mentioned in previous material, the system connects the battery, electric drive, and cabin. It can collect heat generated by the vehicle and efficiently use it. The low-temperature operation of the wide-temperature-range heat pump is below -10℃, which can provide at least a 10% low-temperature endurance gain for the vehicle in cold climates.
Regarding the electric drive system, the AVTA on the CHN platform is equipped with Huawei’s DriveONE oil-cooled electric drive system. The four-wheel-drive version is equipped with two electric motors with a maximum power of 190 kW in the front and 230 kW in the rear. The maximum power output is 425 kW, and the official 0-100 km/h acceleration time is 3.98 seconds.
Intelligent Architecture
The CHN platform is equipped with the Huawei HI Full Stack, which means that the three major domain controllers of the cockpit, intelligent driving, and the entire vehicle are all controlled by Huawei. The most central part of the intelligent driving system includes:- Three 96-line lidars；
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Six millimeter wave radars；
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Surround-view ADAS visual system composed of a forward quad-camera, side dual-camera, side-rear dual-camera, and rear single-camera；
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Four surround-view cameras；
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Twelve ultrasonic radars；
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MDC 810 intelligent driving platform with a maximum computing power of 400 TOPS.
In the cockpit area, CHN will also use the Hongmeng car system and the Kirin chip for the car rule version. There’s no need to say much about Huawei’s endorsement in the car system.
In terms of electronic and electrical aspects, CHN integrates Huawei’s three-domain operating system, including the intelligent driving domain, intelligent cabin domain, and vehicle control domain, and the entire vehicle has high software-defined capabilities.
Vehicle Platform
CHN’s vehicle platform has good compatibility and can cover vehicle models of wheelbases ranging from 2,800 to 3,100 mm, including sedans, SUVs, cross-border vehicles, and MPVs. Avita 11, as CHN’s first car, chose the form of a cross-border vehicle, and I also anticipate that the outline of Avita’s subsequent models will be in the picture.
In addition, CHN’s platform is very willing to use aluminum on the body, and the proportion of aluminum alloy used in the car body has reached 32.8\%. According to official data, compared to an all-steel body, the entire car can be reduced in weight by 30\%.
Therefore, CHN has gathered top-notch three-electric, first-tier intelligent driving and intelligent cabin, and a luxurious body platform, with almost no obvious shortcomings in hard power.
Conclusion
The advantages and disadvantages of different players in the Chinese electric vehicle market are quite obvious. Traditional luxury brand cars have excellent mechanical quality, but their intelligence is not good, and they are expensive. Traditional domestic brand cars have cost-effectiveness, but their intelligence is still lacking. New forces have cost-effectiveness and intelligence, but their mechanical quality and design are not entirely satisfying.
So I would say that Avita 11 under the CHN platform is a very special car because it has Huawei’s first-class intelligent solution, excellent vehicle platform, high configurations, and high-quality materials that Chinese brands have always had, and probably will be priced generously. And a rare but important point, the luxury design that is highly original and full of visual impact.
Therefore, there are many reasons to choose it, and compared separately with each factor, Avita is an excellent choice.
” We know that consumers are eager for change,” is what the Avita official said when describing the concept of this car, which can be understood as “consumers lack interest in many existing products.”We will find out by the end of this year whether Avita’s strengths in design and overall vehicle capability can change this.
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.