Unveiled a few weeks ago, the new Chinese electric car Kaiyi Shiyue gives us some news. The electric city car, rival of the Dacia Spring and Citroën ë-C3, finally officially reveals its price, at less than 7,000 euros. But beware…
If you regularly read the columns of Survoltés, you should probably know that Chinese manufacturers are increasingly present on the market. In their native country of course, but also in Europe, which allows them to compete with brands like Tesla and grab market share. So much so that BYD could soon overtake it.
A new electric city car
But if some manufacturers are very well known today, like MG or even Xpeng, others are also slowly arriving. This is for example the case of Kaiyi, which you have probably never heard of. The latter belongs to Sichuan Yibin Push Group and Yibin Automobile Industry Development Investment and initially sold rebadged Cherys. But a few weeks ago, the brand unveiled its first in-house creation.
This is the adorable Shiyue, announced by the i-EA 01 concept and whose name was chosen as part of an online competition. The latter adopts a very cute style, with rounded lines and very compact dimensions. And for good reason, the city car displays a length of only 3.36 meters for 1.70 meters wide and 1.61 meters high. A format that allows it to compete with the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV and Air EV.
However, small Kaiyi Shiyue is slightly larger than the latter, whileit can accommodate four people on board. And this despite its meager wheelbase of 2.16 meters, which does not guarantee great habitability. The Chinese site ItHome also informs us thata convertible version called Gold DIY has just been revealed. But be careful, because the latter will be limited to only 99 copies worldwide.
Customers will then be able to fully personalize their copy and benefit from exclusive services. On board, the Chinese city car displays a simple presentation with a 10.25 inch touch screen associated with a small digital handset. But no mention yet of the presence of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. On the other hand, the allocation seems to be rather generous.
An affordable price, yes but
Indeed, the Kaiyi Shiyue comes with a multifunction steering wheel, air conditioning and electric mirrors. Access and starting are done without a key, but you will still have to wait before knowing all the features offered. On the other hand, and given its positioning, the city car should ignore autonomous driving.
This rival of the Leapmotor T03, the Dacia Spring and the small Geometry Panda Mini has a single electric motor, displaying a power of 40 kW, or approximately 54 horsepower. Maximum torque is established at 110 Nm while the car goes from 0 to 50 km/h in 4.3 seconds for a speed limited to 118 km/h. Two batteries are offered, namely 17.28 and 28.08 kWh, using LFP (lithium – iron – phosphate) chemistry.
The maximum autonomy is announced at 300 kilometers according to the CLTC cycle, which would give around 255 kilometers with European WLTP approval. Unlike the Dacia Spring, the Chinese city car is compatible with fast charging up to 31 kW and can reach 80% in just 30 minutes. It remains to be seen whether other versions will be offered a little later in the catalog.
In any case, we already know the price of the city car, which therefore starts from 53,900 yuan, which is equivalent to only 6,930 euros. A price that defies almost all competition and is even lower than that of our Citroën Ami at home. However, the one which could also compete with the Citroën ë-C3 should command a much higher price in Europe if it one day arrived here. We could count on at least 15,000 euros, if not more.
But the Wuling Mini EV is sold in China from 19,800 yuan (around 2,550 euros) with the rental of the battery separately. But in Europe, it costs 11,900 euros, without battery rental.