The Chinese state corporation Dongfeng Motor has officially introduced a new premium brand eπ and its debut model — a mid-size sedan with the index 007, its sales should begin in the coming months.
Earlier today we talked about the premium electric sedan Zeekr 007 from the Geely holding, and now meet a new product with the same index from Dongfeng. The number 007 in world culture is strongly associated with James Bond, a fictional British intelligence agent about whom 25 spectacular films have already been made. Why the Chinese are so attached to this number is not very clear; in the Celestial Empire, 8 is considered the happiest number, but somehow it happened that in the designation of large sedans and liftbacks of the NEV segment, seven is most often found.
The abbreviation NEV stands for New Energy Vehicle, and it combines electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen vehicles. The Dongfeng Corporation is now rapidly developing the NEV segment and launching new brands in it, while sales of cars of the Dongfeng brand itself in China leave much to be desired: in January-September this year, according to CAAM, they collapsed by 51.4% (according to compared to sales in January-September 2022) to 159,213 units. Meanwhile, by 2025, Dongfeng wants to reach a sales level of 1 million NEV vehicles per year, for which several new brands are needed, aimed at different audiences.
Dongfeng already has two full-fledged NEV brands — the premium Voyah, well known in Russia, and the off-road M-Hero (aka Mengshi), which is preparing to enter our market. In August, the corporation announced two more brands — eπ and Nammi. The Nammi brand will produce relatively mass-produced and affordable electric cars, and eπ is another premium brand, but a little less pretentious and more youthful than Voyah. Today in China, Dongfeng Corporation held a group presentation of sorts for its NEV brands, but the focus was on the eπ.
The letter “e” in the new brand means electric, energy, explore, emotion (electricity, energy, discovery, emotion), and the number π symbolizes infinity and limitless possibilities. Historically, the eπ brand grew out of the Aeolus sub-brand: in 2018, the Dongfeng Corporation introduced a conceptual four-door coupe-convertible Aeolus eπ01, it never became serial, but the amusing name eπ came in handy.
There is still very little technical information about the eπ 007 sedan: its overall length is 4880 mm, width — 1895 mm, height — 1460 mm, wheelbase — 2915 mm. The design of the eπ 007 is completely trivial, and does not stand out in any way against the background of dozens of other similar Chinese NEV models. We have already seen lifting front doors of the butterfly wing type on the Hozon Neta S and Aion Hyper GT sedans. The minimalist interior is also about the same as its competitors; there is not a single memorable detail in it.
Chinese media report that the eπ 007 will be equipped with all-electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains of the range extender type, where the internal combustion engine is used as an electric range extender. Electric power plants will be single- and dual-motor to choose from, the peak power of the all-wheel drive dual-motor version will reach 400 kW (544 hp), and the all-wheel drive sedan will be able to accelerate to 100 km/h in about 3 seconds. The 800-volt electrical architecture will allow the battery to be charged at high power.
More information about eπ We expect to receive 007 by the end of the year, since its pre-sales are supposed to begin this year, and its full market entry will take place early next year. Over the next three years, more than ten new models will appear in the eπ line.