Despite this new approach, the concept itself is pretty recognisable as a Land Rover with its off-road styling and boxy proportions – even if there are no Land Rover badges anywhere on the car.
Lepas
This is a name we had better get used to in the UK, because Lepas is another one of the Chery Group’s sub-brands, sitting alongside Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo.
Like cars from those other brands, Lepas is going to bring us a plug-in hybrid SUV, which will be shown off in China as the Lepas L4. It’ll sit alongside the larger L6 and L8 offerings as a sister model to the Jaecoo 5, and if that car’s popularity is anything to go by, we’ll be seeing plenty of L4s on the road here in no time.
Luxeed
Luxeed is owned by Chinese smartphone giant, Huawei and as you might expect, the premium-oriented car company has looked to technology to help its first MPV stand out. Called the V9, it gets an incredible new bit of safety kit which essentially cocoons occupants in airbags in the event of a crash to avoid whiplash and neck injuries.
MG
MG is almost ready to unveil a brand-new model, the MG 07. Crucially, and slightly confusingly, the 07 isn’t expected to be a replacement for the existing petrol and hybrid MG7 saloon sold in the Chinese market. The MG 07 will use a cutting-edge ‘Nebula’ Modular Scalable Platform, developed by parent company SAIC, which will allow for both plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicle powertrains.
Nissan
The new Nissan NX8 will be in Beijing and should be a big draw for fans of comfort and relaxation, as we experienced ourselves recently during a short test drive in Japan. A big electric SUV, the NX8 gets sophisticated electronic dampers and a NASA-style ‘zero gravity’ driver’s seat for a cosseting, laid-back driving experience. There’s also 335bhp going to the rear wheels for a 0-62mph time of around 6.5 seconds – not that we’d imagine many NX8 drivers will be tempted into trying.
Smart
Smart gave us our first proper look at the successor to the pocket-sized Smart ForTwo city car recently with the new Concept #2. Unlike the Smart #6 unveiled a few months ago for the Chinese market, the little Concept #2 previews a car that will go on sale globally and one we can expect in the UK by next year.
The styling and dinky proportions are reminiscent of the old Smart ForTwo and just like that car towards the end of its life, the Concept #2 will be all electric – although the production car will arrive on all-new and aptly named Electric Compact Architecture.
Zeekr
Even for China, the new Zeekr 8X promises some pretty outlandish statistics. A plug-in hybrid, it comes with a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 270bhp which doesn’t sound particularly special. But on top of that there’s a 900v architecture with a tri-motor set-up, producing a combined 1,362bhp for 0-62mph time of under three seconds, while maintaining an electric range of more than 200 miles thanks to a massive 70kWh battery pack.
We’ve already experienced this powertrain in the more luxury-oriented 9X and found it to be pretty impressive. We’re certainly looking forward to trying out more Zeekrs when the brand finally arrives in the UK later this year.
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