Chery iCar V23 off-road EV debuts in China, jointly developed with Xiaomi’s Zhimi subsidiary
On April 7, Chery’s iCar V23 made its debut in China. This car is the first model jointly developed by Chery and Zhimi Technology, and is iCar’s second mass-produced model after the iCar 03. Positioned as a pure electric small SUV for young consumers, it is expected to officially unveil on April 12 and launched in the second half of 2024.
Zhimi Technology was established in June 2014 as a hardware company that designs and develops smart appliances and is one of Xiaomi’s ecological chain companies. The Xiaomi ecological chain is the collection of enterprises owned by the parent company Xiaomi. Zhimi Technology’s product offering covers air conditioners, air purifier systems, humidifiers, electric heaters, fans, air detectors, and anti-smog masks.
The news of Zhimi Technology entering car manufacturing was exposed as early as the end of 2021. At that time, 36Kr reported that the former head of GM Pan-Asia’s electric vehicle project joined Zhimi to take charge of the vehicle business along with many personnel from BAIC also joined Zhimi. And at that time, Xiaomi’s official response was: “Zhimi just formed a small research team out of interest in electric vehicles, and there is currently no detailed plan.”
Today, the small research team that Xiaomi refers to has now penetrated into many core positions of Chery New Energy as the Zhimi car manufacturing team. The Zhimi team is responsible for product definition, planning, and engineering, while Chery is responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, sales, delivery, and after-sales. Both parties will continue to create more products using this collaboration model, and plan to launch six to eight vehicles in the next three years.
The iCar v23 is designed with off-roading in mind, offering single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor four-wheel drive options. The battery packs are supplied by CATL, offering a cruising range of 400 km to 500 km. The detailed powertrain and battery parameters have not yet been revealed at this time. Additionally, its dimensions are 4220/1915/1845 mm, and the wheelbase is 2730 mm with an approach angle of 43 degrees and a departure angle of 41 degrees. The four-wheel drive version has a
