The GAC Enverge, at Detroit Auto Show.

[Olds442]

The Enverge is a deadly looking electric car from a company you’ve never heard of

You probably haven’t heard of GAC, the Chinese automaker with big designs on the US market. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GAC is seeking to up its profile in advance of its 2019 US launch with — what else? — an eye-catching, futuristic, mostly irrational electric car concept.

The Enverge certainly attracted a lot of attention here in Detroit with its gull-wing doors, “floating” digital dash-screen, and alleged range of 370 miles on a single charge. That would place it over the Tesla Model 3, which is, of course, a real car and not a concept like this. GAC also unveiled the GA4 midsize sedan that will go on sale in China later this month.

There are a whole bunch of design cues that are sure to appeal to fans of ridiculous concept cars. The headlights slide out and detach to be used as flood lights. (GAC calls it the “G light,” naturally.) The two-door SUV also has virtual reality screens embedded in the side windows. The 71kWh battery can be recharged wirelessly; 10 minutes is enough for 240 miles of range.

I've been wondering when we'd see EV's made in China making it to the US. They're coming at some point, we all know that. But more and more sexy concepts are making the news this year. I hope they all make it to market.

 

[jbcarioca]

GAC is perhaps best known for it's own brand Trumpchi, that is produces in several models.
GAC is pretty eclectic in partnering, though, with Honda, Toyota, Mistsubishi, Isuzu, Hino and Fiat all produced under license.

The first Chinese BEV's to arrive in the US are already in the country having arrived some time ago. BYD has sold quite a few BEV municipal busses and a handful of E6 sedans.
Probably the first ones that people will notice will carry foreign names; most likely Mercedes Benz, BMW or VW. GM will begin producing BEV in China within a year or so, and may well import some to the US. Time will tell which of these will be exported outside China since all of them will be also intended for the domestic market. There are high odds that PSA and JLR will be among them.

100% certainty is that the BEV Volvo will come from China since they are Chinese owned anyway.

 

[scaesare]

Lots of folks struggling with the "don't produce a weirdmobile" concept...

 

[Olds442]

Lots of folks struggling with the "don't produce a weirdmobile" concept...

exactly. they either go way too far with something that will never make it to market (or be over most budgets) or give a us Prius level styling. (sorry prius owners but you should know your cars are ugly by now)

Way out on a limb here but I postulate that the next mfg to bring an EV to market with some design to it, will have yuuge success.

 

[csanders90D]

Wow, either they're making up numbers (lying) or they've re-invented every aspect of the EV with major gains in battery chemistry, charging technology, and aerodynamics. Doing a little math on their numbers:

Driving efficiency: 192 Wh/mi
Charging: 276 KW (wirelessly!)
Battery charge C rate: 3.9 for a 65% charge

Any one of those improvements would be a big deal. However, when the rest of the world works hard to get 10-20% improvements in these areas, I don't believe they're delivering 50-100% gains in multiple areas at once.