Today, the Wei brand Latte DHT-PHEV was officially launched, with three configurations priced as follows:
- Large Cup 229,000 RMB
- Extra Large Cup 243,000 RMB
- Four Wheel Drive Extra Large Cup 263,000 RMB
Here are the car body and power parameters:
- Length, width, height: 4,668 x 1,890 x 1,730 mm
- Wheelbase: 2,745 mm
- Engine displacement: 1.5T
- Battery capacity: 34 kWh (CTP packaging)
- External discharge: 3.3 kW
- Charging speed: 48 kW fast charging
- Engine power/torque: 115 kW/235 N·m
- DHT motor power/torque: 130 kW/300 N·m
- Rear axle motor power/torque: 135 kW/235 N·m (four-wheel drive only)
- System comprehensive power/torque: 240 kW/530 N·m (four-wheel drive: 321 kW/762 N·m)
- Acceleration time for 0 to 100 km/h: 7.2 s (four-wheel drive version: 5.2 s)
- WLTC pure electric range: 184 km (four-wheel drive version: 155 km)
The advanced driving assistance system configuration is as follows:
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1 monocular camera (detection angle: 100°, detection distance: 160 m)
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1 forward millimeter-wave radar (detection angle: 120°, detection distance: 210 m)
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4 corner millimeter-wave radars (detection angle: 120°, detection distance: 110 m)
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12 millimeter-wave radars (detection distance: 1.5 meters)
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Mobileye EyeQ4 perception chip
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Supports automatic light-controlled lane changing
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Supports 50-meter path following reversing
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Supports automatic lane changing (when the speed of the car ahead is lower than the set speed of the car, the system automatically controls lane changing to the adjacent lane)
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Standard across all models.The cabin configuration is as follows:
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Instrument screen: 9.2 inches
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Central control screen: 14.6 inches
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Car control screen: 9 inches
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8155 car chip
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HUD (size unknown)
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Supports “see and talk”
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Supports 20 seconds of continuous conversation
Let’s start with some criticism of the car names. In the early days, WmAuto’s car names VV5, VV6, and VV7 clearly indicated the positioning and relative relationship of the models. However, after renaming them all to “Macchiato”, “Latte”, and “Mocha”, it’s difficult for people to discern the positioning of each model based on the name alone.
Here’s a quick overview of WmAuto’s three current models, listed from smallest to largest:
The Macchiato is 4,520 mm in length with a wheelbase of 2,710 mm, and is positioned as a compact SUV with a HEV version priced at 155,800-169,800 yuan and a PHEV version at 178,800-189,800 yuan.
The Latte is 4,668 mm in length with a wheelbase of 2,745 mm, and is positioned as a compact SUV with the HEV version priced at 179,800-199,800 yuan and the PHEV version at 229,000-263,000 yuan.
The Mocha is 4,875 mm in length with a wheelbase of 2,915 mm, and is positioned as a mid-size SUV with the HEV version priced at 192,800-228,800 yuan and the PHEV version at 295,000-315,000 yuan.
Compared with other hybrid models in the same class, the Latte DHT-PHEV is not cheap, but the configuration is indeed high, including 5 mm double-layered front glass, Harman ANC active noise reduction, Infinity 12 speakers, aluminum lower arms, and electromagnetic suspension, among others.
The theme of “family” was also closely related to at this press conference. A children’s safety seat that supports ventilation and heating was specially launched.
The hybrid market, which had been developing steadily for many years, began to explode this year. In addition to product improvements in “large batteries” and “long pure electric endurance,” under the environment of the epidemic and high oil prices, more and more people are beginning to have higher requirements for “car usage costs,” so everyone has started to choose hybrid models unconsciously.
However, since they are very sensitive to the cost of car usage, they are naturally very sensitive to car prices as well. Although the configuration of the NiTe is very high, the user’s acceptance of this price remains to be seen.
In addition to BYD’s many years of deep plowing and outstanding DM-i product power that has already occupied the minds of most users, it is not easy for other brands that enter the market later to re-occupy their minds.
Considering that Wei brand is a brand with only “hybrid” products, this is particularly difficult and important.
From the perspective of hybrid structure, the energy consumption performance of the NiTe DHT-PHEV will not be too poor. We are also looking forward to testing it out. If people are interested, a comprehensive evaluation of hybrid cars can be held in the second half of the year.
Today, there was an opportunity to interview Wei brand’s CMO. In Qiao Xinyu’s opinion, although pure electric is still a major trend, it still cannot solve the problem of fully transitioning to pure electric vehicles in the short term. Not only are there not enough charging stations, but the current capacity of the power grid does not support the full transition to pure electric vehicles. Therefore, in the next 5-10 years, hybrid and pure electric will definitely be two parallel routes. The market penetration of the two types of models will probably be 50-50.
Within the Great Wall system, Wei’s mission is to do a good job in hybrids, while the pure electric market is expanded by Euler and Salon.
During the meeting, Qiao Xinyu also casually revealed the progress of Wei brand’s MPV. Currently, the exterior has already been verified and entered the whole-car testing phase, and the sedan project is also progressing. However, there are too many sedans on the market now, so they hope to create some interesting models.
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.