On July 5th, GWM has announced the price range of HiPhi Z, which is 600,000-800,000 RMB, online! The specific price and all configurations will be announced at the Chengdu Auto Show in August this year. In addition, from July 6th, the 11-city tour of the car has also been launched.
In the Name of GT
GT represents “Gran Turismo”, which means “great travel”. GWM’s second model is positioned above GT, and we can learn this from the size of the model:
The length, width, and height of HiPhi Z are 5,036, 2,018, and 1,439 mm, respectively, and the wheelbase is 3,150 mm. The length, width, and height of the previous SUV HiPhi X is 5,200, 2,062, and 1,618 respectively, with a wheelbase of 3,150. It can be seen that there is a big change in the height, which also conforms to the positioning of a sedan. And from the same wheelbase, it can be seen that Z and X should belong to the same platform.
On HiPhi Z, GWM has also transplanted the iconic NT wing doors on HiPhi X. However, due to the height of the vehicle, the rear door does not adopt the upper and lower split design of HiPhi X.
In order to make the door without a handle more delicate, GWM introduced UWB ultra-wideband wireless communication technology with 10cm-level positioning, which can better control the timing and angle of the door opening.
Since it is a GT model, HiPhi Z’s handling also comes with sincerity:
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Standard full aluminum front double wishbones, rear five links, plus air suspension and CDC;
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The maximum angle of the rear steering is 13.2°, and the turning radius is 5.7 m;
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IVC vehicle dynamic control system.
Compared with HiPhi X with the same wheelbase (10° and 5.8 m respectively), HiPhi Z has a slight improvement.
In addition, in order to provide better aerodynamic effects, HiPhi Z combines AGS active intake grille with the outer grille, and can work together with active air-suspension spoilers. At the same time, GWM has designed the 22-inch wheels of HiPhi Z as soft wheel hub inserts, which can be disassembled and replaced by themselves to protect the wheels.The sound system of HiPhi doesn’t rely on multiple speakers and high-power lines, but instead cooperates with the British treasure Meridian to jointly modulate the system with 23 speakers and 1,920W of power. We are looking forward to its actual auditory effect.
One detail of the release conference was that HiPhi replaced the touchpad on the HiPhi X steering wheel with touch buttons on HiPhi Z.
Mass production concept?
Last year, HiPhi unveiled the concept model of HiPhi Z. Although it was a concept, the current mass-produced HiPhi Z by HiPhi has achieved 95% restoration.
Star Ring ISD Screen
The most distinctive feature in terms of appearance is the expansion of the interactive light group on HiPhi X to the car doors, forming the “Star Ring ISD Screen.”
At the demonstration in the release conference, I saw that the vehicle could not only display personalized images through the surrounding light strip, such as headlight display of eyes, but also connect with the external audio system to directly call out your name or compliment your female companion, etc. This aroused my curiosity: Can this vehicle perceive the gender of other passengers besides the non-owner who approached?
Of course, PML programmable intelligent headlights have also been upgraded to the second generation, possibly because HiPhi considers that users have a strong preference for this function and frequent use, so it deliberately uses the new generation of wind-cooled modules to enhance heat dissipation, while improving module integration.
HiPhi Bot
On the concept model of HiPhi Z, the most eye-catching feature is probably this HiPhi Bot that supports automatic angle adjustment.
Behind it is a mechanical structure with a 4-degree-of-freedom mechanical support that supports 8-way adjustment. As the interaction core, HiPhi Bot can recognize the direction of sound. From the demonstration video, its response is very sensitive. HiPhi’s official data also includes:
- In-and-out movement takes 1 second;
- Conversion between horizontal and vertical screens takes 2 seconds;
- Forward and backward high-frequency oscillation takes 3 times per second.
Compared with NOMI, which adopts a more personalized approach, this experience is even more shocking as it involves movement of the entire central control screen.
Of course, I am curious about the anti-pinch design and anti-obstacle recognition capability of this mechanical structure.
HiPhi has already mastered HiPhi Play well on HiPhi X. With the addition of HiPhi Bot on HiPhi Z, the playability will inevitably be further improved.
Advanced Driving Assistance System
On HiPhi Z’s perception hardware, it follows the mainstream configuration with a total of 32 sensors and Orin-X computing platform, including:
- 1 lidar sensor
- 8 perception+4 surround view cameras
- 5 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic sensors
- DMS (Driver Monitoring System) camera
- Hands-off detection sensor
HiPhi official claims that with the high-precision map and positioning module, the maximum detection distance ahead can reach 250 meters. HiPhi has also confirmed their software function release plan, where advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) will be gradually available in 2023.
Battery
HiPhi Z is equipped with CTP (Cell-to-Pack) technology, and the battery pack capacity is 120 kWh, providing a CLTC range of 705 km.
With CTP technology assistance and a three-point front compartment support beam, the body stiffness of HiPhi Z has reached 34,900 N·m/deg.
HiPhi adopts the concept of fire sprinklers, using the cooling fluid from the thermal management system to spray on the abnormal battery cells, thus enhancing the safety of the battery pack.
Conclusion
The second car from HiPhi is still a flagship, but Ding Lei did not take the market of relatively lower-priced cars from the top down, as NIO and Tesla did.
If we look closely, the price range of HiPhi Z is the same as that of HiPhi X, but the lower limit is higher by about RMB 100,000. The prices of the two flagship models are thus similar, which is really puzzling. Why did HiPhi do this?
The reason is actually very simple. HiPhi has already established a certain brand appeal in the high-end pure electric vehicle market, which they have found to be a blue ocean market. If you think about it carefully, there is nobody else to compare with HiPhi’s products at this price level.
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.