The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV made mini EVs very fashionable in China, especially in second and third tier cities and so on. The joint venture of SAIC, GM and Wuling really came up with some market-creating innovation as multiple OEMs followed similar mini-EVs in this vehicle segment. The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is a 3-door mini EV that really is for 2 adults in the front and you might squeeze one or two more adults in the back. It’s a really cool car, despite being very small, but it’s not as small as you might think as you will see once you get a chance to enter one. It’s actually a good deal for the price, which was under $4,500 in China when it launched.
After such a blockbuster, the joint venture is back with another cool little EV, but this is a 5-door hatchback positioned just above the mini EV in a segment. The new Wuling Bingo was launched today in China and is available in 4 main colors: black, white, green and pink. The dimensions of the Bingo are 3950/1708/1580 mm with a wheelbase of 2560 mm. It has two options, one with a 30 kW (41 hp) motor and another with a 50 kW (68 hp) motor. These options come with a 17.3 kWh and a 31.9 kWh version with a range of 203-333 kmrespectively.
It also starts at a very tasty $8,681.51. That’s $8,682 for a decent 5-door car with a 17.3 kWh battery and a 30 kW (41 hp) motor. That’s not a bad thing at all, and this car should sell like hot cakes. They have so far released prices for 5 options for different trims ranging from $8,682 to $12,093. The higher trim options also come with DC fast charging from 30% to 80% in about 5 minutes.
And so we have another cool and affordable small EV for the Chinese market. It will soon be joined by the forthcoming BYD Seagull in this segment. The BYD Seagull is a small battery electric vehicle with a 30.7 kWh LFP battery and a 55 kW (75 hp) motor. This means it comes in a segment just below the BYD Dolphin, another popular member of BYD’s Ocean Series. The BYD Seagull will also be priced from, yes, you guessed it, $8,700, just like the Wuling Bingo.
Another small EV I like from China is the Leapmotor T03. The T03 is already being exported to Israel and has recorded decent sales. More of these small EVs really should be going to new markets around the world soon. I hope that the Wuling Bingo will follow the Wuling Air which is now assembled in Indonesia and also enter the international market. BYD is already on a major export expansion and is constantly adding new markets for the Atto, but a global push for the highly affordable Seagull could really help disrupt the auto industry in several markets around the world and really drive adoption . Let’s see what plans the OEMs have for these small EVs.
Wuling Bingo Images by Zotyefan, Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
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