Author: Jingtao Wu
Voyah has found a new differentiated track for new car manufacturing.
On October 1st, following the practice of “new car” companies, Voyah Motors announced its delivery data for September.
In September, Voyah delivered a total of 2,519 new cars, an increase of 177% year-on-year, with an average growth rate of 30% for four consecutive months, entering the top ten of the new car monthly delivery list. Among them, Voyah FREE delivered 1,165 vehicles and Voyah Dream Maker delivered 1,354 vehicles, with an average transaction price of up to 3.7 million yuan.
As a “new car” automaker backed by a traditional company, Voyah achieved solid and steady growth in the third quarter.
Not only did it achieve good sales performance domestically, but at the end of September, 500 Voyah FREE cars were officially shipped from Wuhan, heading to the country with the highest penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the world, Norway. From the start of test driving in July, Voyah FREE received more than 200 orders in just two months in Norway.
Don’t be fooled by the small absolute number, as the best-selling domestic new energy vehicle brand in Norway from January to July this year, BYD Tang, has only just crossed the 1,000 mark in sales. Voyah’s 200-plus orders for FREE in just two months is no small feat.
In July of last year, I briefly test drove the Voyah FREE extended-range version at the test drive venue. On September 15, Voyah Motors launched the long-range pure electric version of Voyah FREE, with a price of 3.936 million yuan and a CLTC working condition endurance of 631 km.
Taking advantage of this test drive opportunity, I want to figure out two questions:
First, why has Voyah been able to achieve sustained sales growth in the second half of this year?
Second, what are the differences between the long-range pure electric version of Voyah FREE and the version I test drove a year ago?
Full Product Coverage
Before writing about the test drive experience, let me briefly introduce the current model classification of Voyah FREE. Voyah FREE currently offers two power forms: pure electric and extended-range electric. We have already experienced the extended-range version earlier this year, and interested friends can look back at the previous video.“`markdown
The pure electric vehicle currently has four versions: the cost-effective two-wheel drive standard version, the performance-oriented DNA joint pure electric version and the four-wheel drive pure electric version, and the protagonist of this test drive is the long-endurance pure electric version pursuing comprehensive performance in terms of endurance and power.
From the product line of LanTu FREE, it is easy to see the importance that LanTu attaches to this mid-size SUV. Whether you value range extension or pure electric, performance or endurance, there is always a LanTu FREE model that is suitable for you.
Such a broad product layout, although it is a trend in the new car manufacturing industry, it is not common to have such comprehensive product coverage on a single vehicle model.
Luxury and quality are still the main themes
As usual, let’s first talk about the static experience. As the core selling point of the product series, the long endurance of the LanTu FREE ultra-long endurance version is not significantly different from the standard version. After all, “the car is as its name suggests.” Therefore, the parts of the long-endurance and standard version models that are the same will not be repeated here, and the focus will be on the changes in the details.
First of all, in terms of size, the LanTu FREE ultra-long endurance version measures 4905mm1950mm1645mm in length, width, and height, respectively, and has a wheelbase of 2960mm, which is exactly the same as the four-wheel drive pure electric version.
The exterior design is also highly similar to the standard version, with the iconic straight waterfall-style grille of LanTu in the front, the LED daytime running lights on both sides of the headlights combined with the light strip along the top of the grille, running through the entire front face, enhancing the visual width of the front end.The side of the car continues the design language of the Voyah brand’s “luxury yacht” similar to the vehicle models, with smooth lines and a pursuit of a stable and luxurious atmosphere. The popular hidden door handle design is used to further reduce the wind resistance during driving.
It adopts 20-inch multi-spoke wheels, and the wheel design is inspired by the turbine blades of an aircraft engine. The tires used are Michelin PRIMACY 4, which focus on quietness and wet braking with a size of 255/45 R20.
The rear section of the car echoes the front section, and also uses a through-type taillight design, with strong recognition when the lights are turned on at night. Compared with the previous pure electric version, the height of the “Voyah, FREE” character logo on the tail of the ultra-long range version has been raised.
The most significant change in the interior is the color scheme. The long-range version of the Voyah FREE adds a beige interior color to the new red interior color.
Paired with the beige leather, light-colored “wood grain” decorative panel, and a small amount of bright chrome trim, the color scheme of the entire interior has a clear sense of hierarchy, and the visual texture has been improved compared to previous models, which is luxurious but not greasy.
The center console is still the familiar “integrated and adjustable triple-screen display.” The three screens can be raised and lowered as a whole, and the height can be adjusted manually through buttons or automatically adjusted by switching driving modes. The car’s computer chip has also been upgraded to the mainstream Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which supports four-tone voice recognition.
The panoramic sunroof of the Voyah FREE uses adjustable lighting technology. By adjusting the light transmittance, the transparency of the sunroof glass can be freely adjusted, which enhances privacy and thermal insulation performance.
The Voyah official claims that this is the same technology as the Boeing 787 aircraft’s cabin window. However, in actual experience, there is still some difference in the transparency of the field of view under low light mode between the two.
In addition to the large battery, there is also a good chassis.
Compared to the standard version of the Voyah FREE, the appearance and interior of the long-endurance version model have not changed much. The main changes are concentrated in the battery and motor.
First of all, the battery. The Voyah FREE two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive pure electric vehicle models are equipped with 88kWh ternary lithium battery packs, and the two-wheel-drive version has a range of 505km, while the four-wheel-drive version has a range of 475km (both under NEDC conditions).
In the ultra-long-endurance version, Voyah equipped it with a 106.7kWh ternary lithium battery pack provided by CATL, and the official claimed a range of 730km, while the CLTC range is 631km.
Moreover, unlike the current mainstream long-endurance models of new car brands, which basically use a single-motor power layout, the Voyah FREE ultra-long-endurance version uses a front and rear dual-motor power layout. The maximum system power is 360kW, the maximum torque is 720N・m, and the 0-100km/h acceleration time is 4.4 seconds.
First of all, let’s talk about the most concerned issue: endurance. After half a day of test driving, we drove 165km in total (including 42km of urban roads, 60km of highways, 12km of national roads, 25km of rural roads, and 26km of county roads), plus about 10km of intense driving during filming. The final energy consumption was 19.8kWh/100km.
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Convertly, under such working conditions, this Lynk & Co 03+ long-range version can run about 539 kilometers, which is 85% of the CLTC working condition.
When driving this Lynk & Co 03+ long-range version, the first thing that gave me a different feeling was its standard air suspension system.
In the past two years, the volume of air suspension systems installed in “new carmaker” companies and high-end car models has seen explosive growth. Once a proprietary component of “million-dollar luxury cars,” it has gradually become commonplace for ordinary households, It is almost a sign that any vehicle priced above 350,000 yuan without an air suspension system is lacking in sincerity.
Although the volume of air suspension system installations has increased, “existence” and “quality” are two completely different things. In the car models launched in the past two years, there are many models that have not been able to utilize the “hardware advantage” of the air suspension system.
Last July, when I test drove the Lynk & Co 03+ plug-in hybrid version on the track, the subjective feel of the air suspension system calibration was not ideal, especially when driving on continuous speed bumps and steel plate road surfaces. The excess small vibrations from the chassis lowered the overall driving quality.
But fortunately, with intelligent automobile systems complementing air suspension systems, there is a post-remedy “panacea” called OTA. Previously, after firms such as Ckoo and NIO upgraded their air suspension systems through OTA, we were pleasantly surprised. After a year of revisiting the Lynk & Co 03+, we were equally impressed with the air suspension system’s performance.
Not only can it guarantee chassis driving quality on well-paved roads such as highways and city expressways. But when it comes to less ideal county and township roads with continuous tiny bumps and undulating road surfaces, this Lynk & Co 03+ long-range version’s suspension exhibits an impressive tenacity. The air suspension system’s more advanced and precise chassis movements, along with softer vibration filtering performance, are finally revealed.
Furthermore, due to the Lynk & Co 03+”s air suspension system, it has a 100mm adjustable range in both upward and downward directions and can adaptively adjust the suspension height according to different driving modes.Translate the following Chinese Markdown text into English Markdown text in a professional way, keeping the HTML tags inside the Markdown and outputting only the correction and improvement parts.
After raising the chassis at the shooting camp, we drove effortlessly into the marshland below through a dense hay stack for filming.
In terms of NVH performance in the cabin, due to the use of Michelin PRIMACY 4 tires with excellent tire noise suppression performance and front double-layer sound insulation glass, the cabin’s quietness during driving is also outstanding.
As a 4.4-second dual-motor electric car, there is no need to worry about the absolute acceleration and dynamic experience during acceleration, deceleration, and turning, even in the daily commuting mode with economy mode on, overtaking and double acceleration will not feel weak.
In terms of energy recovery performance, as a new car brand “endorsed” by traditional automakers, the energy recovery performance of the Voyah FREE is naturally not “abandoned” like traditional fuel cars. The recovery intensity is relatively gentle in any driving mode, and there is no obvious drag feeling.
The steering feel of the steering wheel best reflects the positioning of the Voyah FREE model. As a car model with a powerful output of 490 horsepower and 720N·m torque, the steering of the Voyah FREE is “completely oriented towards comfort”. The initial stage of the steering wheel is relatively large and the directional stability is not sharp.
Obviously, with the power response and chassis performance of this car, it can provoke the desire of the driver for intense driving. However, faced with the steering feel that is completely oriented towards comfort, the desire for intense driving in the heart will gradually calm down to take care of the feelings of other passengers in the car.
Suitable for whom
When we mention the Voyah brand in daily life, we believe that the most commonly mentioned features are “luxury” and “steadiness.”
In fact, Voyah has a clear positioning for its brand and products. The new forces in carmaking represented by “We Xiaoli” is not Voyah’s main competitor, and the supporters of new forces are not Voyah’s primary target consumer group.
Traditional luxury brand consumers who value brand history and pursue stable designs are actually the target group that Voyah wants to reach the most.
Voyah FREE relies on this differentiation competitive design concept and has maintained stable sales growth in the second half of this year. In addition to the standard version pursuing cost-effectiveness and the DNA version with both performance and personality, Voyah FREE has also added the long battery life module to meet customers’ needs.
If you need to purchase a new energy SUV in the range of 350,000 to 400,000 RMB, still hold a wait-and-see attitude towards new forces, and value the accumulation and lower “initial cost” from switching from traditional fuel vehicles, then Voyah FREE is definitely a top candidate you cannot ignore.
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.