Hardly a week goes by without a Chinese manufacturer presenting a new car. Today, it is the Dongfeng Forthing brand, still unknown in Europe but which is arriving soon, which presents us with a fairly consensual electric sedan and which apes another better-known Chinese sedan.
With the advent of the electric car, you probably didn’t miss the arrival, or even the return we should say, of sedans. In Europe, this is already palpable, with notably the Volkswagen ID.7, the BMW i4, i5 and i7, the Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS and, soon, the 100% electric Audi A4, A6 and A8. Let’s not also forget the Tesla Model S in the United States, a pioneer in its segment, and a few years later the best-selling Model 3.
As for Asian manufacturers, there is also a bit of choice, notably with the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Among the Chinese, it is Byzantium, with an already significant number of sedans marketed in the country, even if they have not still made the way to our house. We think in particular of the Nio ET5 and ET7 with their ingenious battery exchange system, or the XPeng P5 and P7.
Quite limited autonomy for such a large sedan
Sedans have many advantages over SUVs, starting with greater roominess, relatively lower weight and even a better aerodynamic drag coefficient (Cd). For this reason, this often makes them a better electric car, with better consumption and better autonomy than their SUV equivalent.. Sedans are therefore making a comeback on the market, and it is not this Dongfeng Forthing Xinghai S7 that will tell us the opposite.
As its name suggests, this beautiful baby comes from China and will be officially presented in a few weeks. First images are circulating on the web, again and again “thanks” to the Chinese Ministry of Transport.
For the moment, we know little about this model, except that it will be based on Dongfeng’s S2-E platform. The Xinghai S7 measures 4.94 meters long, 1.92 meters wide and 1.50 meters high, while the wheelbase peaks at 2.92 meters. On the other hand, one piece of data greatly surprised us: its weight. According to information from the Chinese Ministry of Transport, it weighs only 1,730 kg. A featherweight for the category!
The car will have a single electric motor of 218 hp powered by an LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery. Battery capacity has not been revealed at this time. The top speed is 160 km/h and the CLTC mixed cycle autonomy can reach 500 km, which is equivalent to approximately 450 km according to the WLTP cycle in Europe. The on-board battery shouldn’t really be that big, because a Volkswagen ID.7 which is roughly the same dimensions claims between 620 and 700 km.
Soon in Europe? Not so sure…
Aesthetically, it is difficult to hide the connection between this model and another Chinese electric sedan, the Nio ET5. The two cars look almost identical, both at the front and at the rear, except that the S7 adopts a different bumper and a lighting signature which seems to be greatly inspired by a DS 7 restyled.
Dongfeng Forthing is far from being a juggernaut in China, since the brand only sold 5,088 vehicles in February 2024, a drop of 25.2% year-on-year and a drop of 40.1% over one month.