Title: The New Force of Midsize SUV Beyond One Million Level
Author: Wu Jingtao
Another “beyond one million level” new force of midsize SUV.
“Wonderful World M7 will completely surpass million-level luxury cars such as Toyota Alphard and Lexus LM.” I don’t know if you all remember this statement made by Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s executive director, terminal BG CEO, and intelligent automotive solutions BU CEO about the Wonderful World M7 at the “Stack-up Full-stack Motivation 2022: Dialogue on Future Automotive Innovation and Integration Pioneer” forum more than a month ago.
At that time, this statement caused a lot of discussion on the Internet. Just like “the best home flagship SUV under 5 million” and “the ceiling of midsize SUV priced from 400,000 to 500,000 yuan”, it seems that the bosses of various new forces have mastered the traffic password proficiently and know how to attract everyone’s attention through certain statements so as to stimulate discussions on their new car models.
After being delayed by the Shanghai epidemic, the Wonderful World M7 was officially released and launched on July 4 at Huawei’s summer launch event.
What kind of car is it?
First of all, let’s briefly introduce the basic information of the Wonderful World M7 to those who are not very familiar with it.
The Wonderful World M7 is a 6-seater extended-range midsize SUV based on the Dongfeng Fengguang ix7, which has many similarities in appearance. The length, width and height of the vehicle body are 502019451775mm, and the wheelbase is 2820mm. It will be equipped with HarmonyOS cockpit, and the four-wheel-drive version will have a WLTC comprehensive range of over 1000 kilometers. At present, the new car offers 3 configurations with a price range of 3.198-3.798 million yuan.
At this press conference, it is not surprising that Yu Chengdong explained the product highlights of the Wonderful World M7, with his “Internet persona”, which added a lot of interest and highlights to the event. Today’s article summarizes the key points about the Wonderful World M7 at the press conference.
Key points at the press conference
Firstly, about the appearance and body size, if you have watched the press conference, you should have noticed that “the vast majority of the content of the presentation is focused on the introduction of performance indicators and the degree of intelligence, with very little on the design aspect.”
Therefore, regarding the appearance of the Wonderful World M7, you can watch the promotional video and evaluate it based on your own aesthetic preference. As for the body colors, the entire series offers 6 colors for consumers to choose from.
Regarding the size and space, a large part of the press conference was dedicated to explaining the design input and final effect of the spatial utilization of the WEY M7.
Thanks to the enhanced layout of the WEY M7, with a side-to-side design, the L113 length of the WEY M7 is only 433mm (the distance from the front axle center to the driver’s toe, which can also be simplified as the distance from the wheel to the front end of the door), which is significantly shorter than that of the BMW X7, Mercedes-Benz GLS, and Audi Q7. The space conversion rate of the WEY M7 is 92.4%. The final result is that the WEY M7 has a 2605mm passenger cabin space.
However, it is somewhat unethical to compare the space of the WEY M7 with the front-wheel drive platform of the Dongfeng Fengguang IX7 and a group of rear-wheel drive platforms.
In terms of the interior, the WEY M7 is equipped with electric suction doors, a 10.4-inch curved full LCD instrument panel + 15.6-inch 2K central control screen, crystal shift lever, dual 40W wireless fast charging panel, second-row small table, 128-color ambient light, and a 1000W HUAWEI SOUND audio system composed of 19 speakers.
At the press conference, Yu Chengdong focused on two key features. The first was the zero-gravity seat on the right side of the second row. According to the official statement, this is the first commercially available zero-gravity seat in the industry.
The seat can achieve a zero pressure angle of 113° for the waist and 108° for the legs, placing the knees and heart on the same horizontal line. It supports 14-way power adjustment and can be switched to zero gravity mode with one button or by voice. At the same time, both seats in the second row support ventilation, heating, and massage functions.
Zero-gravity seat promotion video:“`markdown
Furthermore, the Harmony OS smart cockpit from Huawei and AITO, which is known as the “ceiling of the car networking world,” has been further upgraded on the M7 model.
It has implemented the industry’s first super desktop that can directly use phone apps on the car screen, and can call vehicle hardware such as cameras. According to Huawei, currently, this function has supported more than 3400 Hongmeng system mobile apps.
Super desktop promotion video:
Its built-in Petal Maps support seamless navigation transfer between the car and phone. The voice assistant Xiao Yi can achieve full-scenario visual and voice recognition, supporting partition recognition of 6 seats. It also cooperates with the child safety seat brand Babyfirst and can control the child safety seat through the car screen.
Functions such as car-home interconnection and vehicle-phone interconnection will not be absent. At the same time, M5 car owners can enjoy the above functions through OTA upgrades.
As for driving assistance, it is equipped with L2-level driving assistance system, and the hardware part uses 12 ultrasonic radars + 3 millimeter-wave radars + 4APA cameras.In terms of performance, first is the NVH level. According to official data released at the press conference, the WEY M7 achieved comprehensive performance superiority over various models such as BMW X5, Toyota Alphard, Mercedes-Benz GLE, and Audi Q7 in NVH testing in multiple speed ranges through exterior optimization, using ENC active noise reduction, equipping soundproof glass, and adopting silent tires.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that in this NVH report card, Model Y’s NVH performance at a speed of 120km/h is even better than that of BMW X5, which is quite surprising.
Regarding its power system, WEY M7 uses the Huawei DriveOne pure electric drive range extender platform, providing a choice of rear single motor or front and rear dual motors. It is equipped with a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender with a thermal efficiency of up to 41% and a 40kWh battery pack. The maximum power of the four-wheel drive model can reach 330kW, the maximum torque is 600N·m, and the 0-100km/h acceleration time is 4.8 seconds, while the rear-wheel drive version is 7.8 seconds.
In terms of range and energy consumption, the pure electric range of the rear-wheel drive version is 195km, and that of the four-wheel drive version is 165km. When fully fueled and fully charged, the rear-wheel drive version of WEY M7 has a maximum range of 1100km, and the four-wheel drive version is 1000km. The fuel consumption is 6.85L/100km for the rear-wheel drive version and 7.45 L/100km for the four-wheel drive version (all data are based on the WLTC cycle).
At the press conference, Yu Chengdong stated that “acceleration performance is not the most critical indicator, chassis tuning is the key”. However, the chassis of WEY M7 adopts a combination of front MacPherson and rear multi-link independent suspension. This mechanical structure not only cannot be compared with various million-level luxury cars, but also has not been improved compared with its own WEY M5’s double-wishbone structure. The official explanation is that the use of the MacPherson structure for the front suspension is to further increase passenger cabin space.
According to official data on the moose test, WEY M7 can achieve a pass speed of 74km/h. It is better than BMW X5, X7, Mercedes-Benz GLE, and Audi Q7. The best braking distance for the rear-drive version is 34.2m, and the four-wheel drive version is 35.5m.
ConclusionFrom the information revealed in the press conference, the pace of the following events after the launch of the WENJIE M7 is quite fast. The exhibition cars have been arranged to stores one after another, and test drives will be available by the end of July with the aim of vehicle delivery starting in August.
After our press conference, we continued discussing whether WENJIE M7 could extend the good sales performance of its predecessor M5 when facing such strong competitors as Voyah Free and Ideal ONE. AITO WENJIE then released the pre-order information of M7. Just two hours after the press conference was over, the number of M7 orders had exceeded 10,000, and it broke the 20,000 mark in just four hours.
We welcome your opinions and comments on the WENJIE M7 in the comment section after reading this article or attending the press conference. You are also welcome to discuss the reasons behind the high popularity of WENJIE M7 pre-orders.
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.