Do you like square boxes? In the past year or so, there have been suddenly more square boxes on the market, and this niche demand is about to become a mass aesthetic. The problem with square boxes is that they are generally more expensive, but what if there are 100,000-level square boxes?
On February 28, Chery's iCar 03 was officially launched, with a total of six models and a price of 1098-16.980,000 yuan. Low-end, pure electric, square box, this is indeed a rare model, so how does it actually perform?
What kind of car is the iCar 03?
icar is a new sub-brand launched by Chery, which has been unveiled as early as April 2023, and icar 03 is the brand's first model, aimed at young consumers.
The most attractive thing about the icar 03 is that it adopts the classic square box shape of a hard-core off-road vehicle, which has a vertical front and a windshield with a relatively small angle of inclination, which will bring greater wind resistance, but for ordinary users, these seem to be nothing, and it will be over if it looks good.
icar 03 body length of 4406mm, wheelbase reached 2715mm, it can be said that it is the smallest batch of square boxes that can be bought on the market, it is characterized by lightness, easy to park, and at the same time does not have the cheap feeling of Wuling Yue, it is relatively easy to be recognized by young users.
The body color provided by the new car is mainly white, black, gray, silver, blue, and green, and these body colors seem to prove that its main target group is young men, but this kind of styling style, in fact, female users are also more suitable, and after the official launch, there should be many users who modify themselves.
The positioning of this car is relatively low, so the seat function is also relatively simple, and only two high-end models provide functions such as seat heating and main driver leg rest. In addition, this car is equipped with automatic air conditioning, rear seat air vents, temperature zone control, and PM2 in the car as standard5. Filtering devices and other configurations, in the same price range of models, these configurations can only be regarded as decent.
The iCar 03 uses a load-bearing body, so it cannot be regarded as an off-road vehicle in the traditional sense, but it also provides creep mode, tank turning and other configurations, which shows that in the new energy era, manufacturers can achieve some functions of traditional off-road vehicles on ordinary models through a more powerful power system.
Inside, the iCar 03 features a traditional T-shaped layout, and like the exterior, its interior has a distinctly hard-core style. As a pure electric model, this car omits the vast majority of physical buttons and instead passes through 15The 6-inch central control screen can be used to call up various functions.
Compared with the joint venture car in the same price range, the iCar 03 is more sophisticated in terms of materials and workmanship, and also provides crystal knobs, encryptable glove boxes and other configurations. At the same time, the car is also equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 6155 and 8155 chips, which support common functions such as voice recognition, 4G network, and wireless charging for mobile phones.
Due to the low overall positioning, the iCar 03 only provides L2 level driving assistance functions on two high-end models, which is already relatively backward in the new energy models at the same price.
What about the power performance?
iCar 03 is a pure electric model, among the many square box models, there are not many pure electric models, so what is the power performance of icar 03?
The iCar 03 is available in two versions, single motor and dual motor, the single motor version has a maximum power of 135kW and a range of 401km and 501km. The dual-motor version has a maximum power of 205 kW and a range of 472 km and 501 km.
From an objective point of view, such power performance is not outstanding, and the square box shape will inevitably bring an increase in power consumption. But if the user is driving in the urban road most of the time, then this power can still meet the demand, it is not the pursuit of trekking, but to let young people in the city to pull the wind, then the minimum range of 401km is to meet the demand.
What is the outlook for the iCar 03?
The product idea of icar 03 is very clear, the compact SUV market is too volatile, and the price reduction tide will begin at the beginning of 2024, and the follow-up Song PLUS and Song Pro under BYD may also launch the Glory version of the model, and the SUV market below 150,000 yuan will be more crowded. If icar 03 wants to get ahead, it is necessary to seek some differentiated competitive routes.
This is an important reason why it chooses the square box shape, hundreds of thousands of **, you can buy a car cost much lower than the oil car, with a personalized square box shape, with creep mode and tank turning function of the pure electric SUV, in fact, it is still more cost-effective, can attract some young consumers.
But 1098-16.Is the ** of 980,000 yuan really cheap? It's still hard to say now, because the market is changing too fast, and hundreds of thousands of ** are not a small number for ordinary users, not to mention that pure electric models still have endurance anxiety. Therefore, it is not very likely that this car will become a popular model, and as a personalized model, it is good to "please" young consumers.
How to choose a new car?
iCar 03 has launched a total of 6 configuration models, and the choice is still relatively strong, so which of these 6 models are more competitive?
The key to choosing a car depends on what your needs are. The single-motor version of the icar 03 has a lower price, weaker power, and simpler driver assistance functions, and its biggest advantage is the square box shape and lower cost than fuel vehicles. Of the three models with a single motor, the entry-level model is too low, and the long-range version only adds 100 km of range, so it is priced at 11The 980,000 yuan two-wheel drive standard advanced version is the most worth buying.
The dual-motor version of the iCar 03 comes with a four-wheel drive system, which is more powerful, has L2 level driving assistance functions, and also has a certain off-road ability, which is suitable for those who often travel by car and camp. Among the three dual-motor models, the entry-level four-wheel drive long-range version is also relatively low, and the top-of-the-line intelligent driving version is too expensive, so it is most worth starting with the four-wheel drive long-range advanced version.
Summary:Square boxes are indeed attractive, but it remains to be seen how big this "attraction" is, and square boxes such as the Tank 300 and Equation Leopard Leopard 5 are also selling well because of their performance rather than their appearance. It remains to be seen whether the icar 03, a pure electric square box of more than 100,000 yuan, can be recognized by users.