Chery iCar V23 and iCar X25 unveiled in China

Khodrocar - Today Chery unveiled the iCar V23 which will then be shown at the Beijing Auto Show later this month before opening pre-sales in the second half of the year. The car is the second in the Chery iCar range and this time is jointly created with Xiaomi subsidiary Smartmi, also known as Zhimi Technology. Also shown was the new iCar X25 concept.

Chery’s iCar V23 is positioned as a small all electric hard core looking SUV with a square box shape for young people. Measuring in at 4220, 1915 and 1845 mm (l/w/h) and a wheelbase of 2730 mm it is smaller than the iCar 03.

Although quite similar in style to the iCar 03 the iCar V23 is more rugged looking. One distinctive feature is the large solid C pillar which surely can’t do much for visibility. Also notable is the box which Chinese media refer to as a ‘school bag’ on the side opening tailgate. This is a further storage compartment and it can only be accessed from inside the car.

Powering intelligent driving the car has a Horizon Robotics J3 chip and a Texas Instruments TDA4 chip. Sensors include four millimeter wavelength radars along with an 8MP front-view camera and 3MP surround view cameras giving what Chery refer to as L2++ intelligent driving capability.

The car comes in both rear wheel and all-wheel drive versions. Chinese media are claiming the car has an 80 kWh CATL battery but are confusingly saying that the single motor version has 400 km range while the dual motor has 500 km! Most likely the single motor version will have a smaller battery.

There’s a choice of 19 or 21-inch wheels. Rear wheel drive versions have an approach angle of 42° and departure angle 40° while ground clearance is 206 mm, for four wheel drive versions the numbers are 43°, 41° and 212 mm respectively.

Inside the Chery iCar V23 has a lot of rounded corners and notably has some prominent dials and buttons under the central touchscreen. These seem to largely control the AC. Powering the cockpit is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip and the HMI will be 3D.

Also shown today was the iCar X25 which is being called a one-box off-road MPV. This is a range-extended vehicle but whether the iCar X25 will amount to anything more than a concept remains to be seen. It is meant to embody the concept of maximizing space and optimizing energy efficiency and seems to blur the distinction between an MPV and SUV.

The brand aims to have 300 experience centers and 500 delivery centers by 2025 increasing to 500 and 1000 respectively by 2027. During March 5,487 iCar 03 were sold and so far 10,000 have been assembled. Cars received the first OTA on April 6.