You can thank Tesla for the proliferation of a load of new car brands that you’ve never heard of before. The American disruptor arrived properly with the Model S in 2012 and showed that if you introduce the right electric vehicle (EV), consumers will ignore historic brand cachet and buy what they think is the best thing for them.
The thing is, it’s not other American companies which have followed suit after Tesla, but the Chinese. A whole wave of all-new car brands has appeared on the horizon in recent years, altering the automotive landscape forever and putting the wind up what are known as the ‘legacy’ manufacturers hailing from Europe, Japan and the US. We’ve already thrown the spotlight onto Build Your Dreams (BYD), Denza, Jaecoo, Nio, Omoda and Yangwang previously, so here’s the next wave of Chinese brands we could see selling EVs in Ireland in the coming months and years.
Chery
Chery is the second-oldest car manufacturer in China, beginning its operations in 1997, and it’s also the biggest exporter of vehicles from the country, with more than five million of its machines finding homes worldwide over the intervening years. It’s also the parent company to both Jaecoo and Omoda, two brands that have already made appearances with some notable success in other European markets and which will hopefully appear in Ireland before too long. Indeed, so taken aback by the sales success of the Jaecoo 7 and Omoda 5 has Chery been that it has decided to launch cars under its own brand in Europe too.
Presently, Chery’s early forays into this part of the world include the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 SUVs, both of which are powered by either petrol engines or plug-in hybrid drivetrains, but the company already has the Omoda E5 EV at its disposal and could easily adapt that platform for use in Chery-badged cars. Watch this space.
Fangchengbao
Fangchengbao, which roughly translated apparently means ‘Excellent Leopard’, is yet another adjunct of the mighty BYD, perhaps the best-known Chinese EV brand so far. Running an analogy to the Volkswagen Group’s structure, BYD is perhaps the alternative to Volkswagen itself, while Denza is almost like China’s equivalent to Audi – and Yangwang is the ultra-prestige, so maybe BYD’s attempt to do a Bentley or Porsche.
However, while Volkswagen Group doesn’t have any 4x4 specialists, BYD does and it’s Fangchengbao which forms that part of the company. So far, all we’ve seen is the Bao 5 DMO, a chunky, set-square 4x4 with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain which looks like a straight rival to the likes of the Toyota Land Cruiser, Land Rover Defender and Ineos Grenadier. However, with the EV might of BYD behind it and all the electric platforms available in-group – plus watching Tesla rake it in with the Model X and Model Y electric SUVs, as well as seeing even Mercedes-Benz turn the ageing G-Wagen into an EV – there’s every chance that zero-emission 4x4s from Fangchengbao will turn up sooner rather than later.
HiPhi
HiPhi – pronounced like a stereo system of old – is a top-end car company headquartered in Shanghai that’s independent of any other automotive manufacturing brands. In its homeland, it outsells Porsche and Tesla and has already launched in Norway and Germany with some success; HiPhi’s target is to be present in 12 territories across the continent by the end of this year.
So far, HiPhi’s three products are a couple of SUVs, called the X and Y, and then a high-performance four-door in the mould of the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT and forthcoming Polestar 5, which is christened the Z. The latter has 655hp and a 0-100km/h time of 3.8 seconds, and it looks like something out of a Judge Dredd movie, but the X and Y are a little more conventional. The former is the bigger of the two, sharing the same dual-motor, 655hp drivetrain as the Z four-door, but the Y promises a whopping range of up to 810km. Interestingly, both the X and Y SUVs from HiPhi have ‘gullwing’ top-hinged opening doors at the rear… clearly inspired by the ‘Falcon doors’ on the back of the Tesla Model X.
Skywell
It’s kind of hard for us to recommend Skywell in this piece, mainly because this unheralded company – previously best known for making TVs under its Skyworth domestic-market branding – has only revealed one EV so far, and that was the utterly risible BE11 SUV: possibly the worst modern car we’ve driven in the 21st century.
However, in Skywell’s defence, here are some pointers that might change the game for the beleaguered BE11: one, much of its worst behaviour is due to the bizarre Chinese tyres it is fitted with, so popping on a set of Michelins or similar might cure the SUV of many of its worst ills; two, Chinese companies don’t often hang around in the wake of stern criticism, so remedies and updates for the BE11 are probably already in the pipeline; and three, the Skywell is reasonably cheap, very spacious within, and decently equipped for the cash. The issue will be getting a dealer network established here, but if Skywell can do that and improve the BE11 from its ropey early showings, there could be some merit in this brand coming to Ireland.
Zeekr
Zeekr might not have the best brand name, because it sounds like a mosquito-borne disease regrettably, but it’s in the Geely group with the prestigious Volvo and Polestar brands, both of which have ample EV expertise. Some of the driver assist technologies in the Zeekrs can be a little over-zealous and annoying, but these vehicles have lots of power, quality cabin finishing, a good spread of technology and enough range to make them seriously worthwhile.
Should they make their way to our shores, you could choose from the big 001 shooting brake/fastback, the X compact urban SUV, or the bigger 7X – the last of which has up to 639hp in certain configurations.