Can Lantu surpass FREE and Dreamers in chasing the light?

Written by | Rui Chen Zhang

Edited by | Xianzhi Wu

On the evening of December 15th, LanTu’s first sedan ‘Zhuiguang’ under the LanTu car brand was officially launched. After the SUV and MPV, Zhuiguang is the third model of the LanTu car family. The pre-sale price is between 322,900 to 432,900 yuan, positioning it as a medium to large-sized sedan. The arrival of Zhuiguang proves the strategic goal of LanTu car’s ‘Three years, Three Categories’.

LanTu Zhuiguang is LanTu’s first sedan model, and it is also the first mass-produced vehicle equipped with ESSA+SOA intelligent electric bionic technology under LanTu.

In terms of appearance: LanTu Zhuiguang generally continues the design style of the LanTu concept car i-Land. The headlight strip is a familial scattered strip from the logo to both sides, equipped with hidden handles, and a lift-up electric tail wing. As a medium to large-sized sedan, LanTu Zhuiguang has a size of 5088/1970/1505mm and a wheelbase of 3000mm, giving a similar visual sense as D-class sedans.

In terms of power: LanTu Zhuiguang is equipped with an 8-layer flat-wire drive motor, with a maximum power of 375kW and a maximum torque of 730N·m, achieving a 0-100km/h acceleration in 3.8 seconds. There are options for 82kWh and 109kWh battery capacities, with a pure electric range of 580km and 730km respectively.

In terms of interior: LanTu Zhuiguang is equipped with three groups of 12.3-inch screens that support gesture control, a four-zone voice system, as well as face recognition and voiceprint recognition. It is also equipped with a 60-inch large screen AR-HUD head-up display, which can display over 30 types of traffic information.

LanTu Zhuiguang supports a battery rental plan. The monthly rental fee for the 82kWh battery version is 1,680 yuan, and the terminal discount after choosing the battery rental program is 130,000 yuan. The monthly rent for the 109kWh long-range battery version is 2,250 yuan, and the terminal discount is 180,000 yuan.### Two models on sale perform averagely

Up to now, LanTu Auto has officially released three mass-produced models. Apart from the recently launched LanTu Chasing Light, there are also LanTu FREE and LanTu Dreamer.

SUV LanTu FREE is the first mass-produced model of LanTu Auto, which was officially launched in June 2021 and started delivery in August of the same year. As of November 2022, the latest monthly delivery of LanTu FREE was 478 units, and the cumulative sales volume in 2022 was 11,354 units. The overall sales trend has been declining. Therefore, LanTu FREE failed to bring the expected delivery effect.

The second model of LanTu, LanTu Dreamer, is an electric luxury flagship MPV, which was officially launched on May 7, 2022, and officially started delivery on July 16. It delivered a total of 1,000 units in just 17 days. After a brief sales surge, it has been in a continuous decline recently. Although LanTu recently staged a positive confrontation with the industry benchmark “Elfa” with Dreamer, and won the victory, it did not help the sales. On the other hand, the unnoticed competitor DENZA D9 had a sales volume in November that was ten times that of October, indicating that LanTu Dreamer failed to carry the banner of LanTu Auto’s sales.

What are the core technologies of the third car?

LanTu Chasing Light adopts the self-developed “mica” battery system, which is the industry’s first mass-produced model equipped with a semi-solid-state battery. It achieved the result of no leakage, no smoking, no ignition, and no explosion in the industry’s first 8-series three-element lithium soft pack battery needle test.

The power transmission, cost, charging efficiency, and safety factor of the semi-solid-state battery are all superior to traditional batteries. It can travel for 230km after 10 minutes of charging, relieving the anxiety of electric vehicle users caused by the range of endurance.

The entire car is equipped with 31 high-performance sensors, including 10 collision sensors, 12 high-definition cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars, which accurately recognize collision accidents in a 360-degree all-round way, ensuring the safety of passengers in the car and providing some protection for pedestrians.

The Voyah ZHUIGUANG is equipped with a self-developed navigation driving system, which can achieve Level L2+ automatic driving, intelligently assist in driving scenarios such as highways and urban express roads with point-to-point connections, and support functions such as remote car movement and parking memory.

Final Thoughts

This configuration gives the first impression of luxury. Whether from the appearance, size, or configuration, it can be said to be one of the more outstanding vehicles in the 300,000 level. However, whether it can reverse the declining trend of the previous two models’ sales remains to be further verified by the market. After all, the delivery volume of a car is determined by the overall system capabilities of a company.

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.