GMC+THS, GAC Trumpchi hybrid "walk on two legs".
Author/Photo: Rao Weihao
Yingku, the name of this "crowdfunding" back is good, which is similar to the pronunciation of the concept car "EMKOO", but also highlights the identity of its GAC Trumpchi "shadow" character and the design theme of the "cool" word.
Yingku is not an SUV version of the Shadow Leopard, at least from the design point of view, Yingku in addition to the steering wheel can let you taste a little bit of "leopard" taste, the connection between the two cars is better than nothing. I'm not trying to "hold the leopard and step on the cool", in fact, the design of these two cars is remarkable, but since they are the same "shadow" series at the same time, if they can get some "family lineage" in each other's design, it will be more clever.
Yingku is a car that looks better than the photo, and the body lines look three-dimensional and textured under the sunlight. Based on my personal aesthetic, a complex design like Shadow Cool is more suitable for matching simple colors, and black and white are the correct answer.
The "Jump Grating" net, the "Eye of Revelation" headlight, will tell the story is not only those imported products, abandon those fancy exclusive terms, shadow cool front face design is complex and not chaotic, oriental symmetrical aesthetics are displayed vividly.
Mecha-inspired, futuristic, this feeling stems from its semi-enclosed front face design that "draws a clear line" with traditional fuel vehicles, although this is not a pure electric model. GAC does not lack radical and bold designs, the difficulty is that it needs to take care of the public aesthetic while "eyeballing".
Even if it is stationary, the "low front and back high" body posture also makes the car look like it has the potential energy to dive forward. The two lines zigzagging down from the D pillar run through the two doors, converging at the bottom, sharp and three-dimensional, from the side, the body is like a string, the front of the car is like an arrow, ready to go, very powerful.
"Front low and back high" will also bring a problem: the rear of the car appears to be relatively warped, and the ground clearance of the car is not low, and it looks like there will be a feeling of "pouting".
The C-shaped "quantum lightsaber tail light" is integrated with the side D-pillar, slender and sharp, like a sickle, very recognizable.
As an SUV that emphasizes "sportiness", the tail wing is naturally not absent. The high-level brake lights were also incorporated into the rear wing, giving it a first-class visual look.
My personal favorite is still the cool "vortex tail row" design, bilateral four out, and the use of vertical arrangement, is there a "Gundam warrior" feeling? According to the information currently released, this exhaust style will only appear on 2.0T models. Judging from the configuration of Shadow Leopard, Shadow Cool is very likely to be equipped with valve exhaust, and the surging sound wave is still very attractive for young consumers.
Overall, the design of Yingku is very bold, many details on the appearance can withstand scrutiny, as the first SUV model of the "Shadow" series, Yingku is by no means a perfunctory product sequence filler. The radical appearance is a "double-edged sword", it is easy to hurt yourself if you don't play well, and Yingku may not be able to become the mainstay of GAC Trumpchi's sales, but it can shoulder the burden of brand rejuvenation.
Unfortunately, this still shoot did not open the interior experience, and I can only give you a few small shots through the glass. In fact, the interior of Yingku was announced together as early as the official picture debut a few days ago, as for the reason for the unopened interior experience, I guess it should be that these display models are still in a trial state, and there is still a distance from the real mass production version.
Yingku does not adopt the dual screen design of Shadow Leopard, and the overall style is closer to the second-generation GAC Trumpchi GS8. What is more distinctive is that the new car adopts a design called "energy storage reel" in the dashboard area, the screen is like a picture scroll slowly unfolding from the reel, the "reel" runs through the main driving area, and integrates the functions of rotary air outlet, intelligent temperature control knob, tunnel atmosphere light and so on, which is quite designed.
The Yingku car machine is embedded in the ADiGO 5.0 intelligent driving interconnection ecosystem, and the hardware is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which is currently the leading in the car machine.
GAC Trumpchi this time is to keep up with the trend once, the popular crystal gear and electronic paddle gear shift combined together, the scene is still quite good. The next door is also equipped with a wireless charging area for mobile phones, but it seems that the depth is not too deep, and the mobile phone will be thrown away when driving fiercely, and it is hoped that manufacturers can improve in future mass production versions.
Yingku's high-end models will be equipped with Yamaha brand audio, from the official picture released, the front seat headrest side is also equipped with a flare, the specifications are high, people look forward to!
Yingku is positioned as a compact SUV, but the body size data has not yet been announced, from my on-site perception, Yingku's legroom performance in the car is basically the same as GS4, and the central platform can also be fully flat.
The new car will be available in three power combinations, namely the hybrid system composed of 2.0ATK Atkinson engine + GMC 2.0 second-generation electromechanical coupling system, the julang power 1.5TGDI engine + 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, and the 2.0TGDI engine + Aisin 8AT transmission, and the data of the three power combinations are not currently announced.
The power of 1.5T and 2.0T has been experienced on different models of GAC Trumpchi before, and the focus of this time naturally falls on the new Julang hybrid system. Friends familiar with GAC Trumpchi must remember the self-improving version of the Toyota THS hybrid system on the second generation GS8, from the name of the destination, these two hybrid systems belong to the same "Julang Hybrid", but the actual technical route is completely different. This GMC hybrid system on Yingku is completely self-developed by GAC Trumpchi forward, using a series and parallel method, covering oil-electric hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen power system. The 2.0-liter ATK Atkinson naturally aspirated engine achieves thermal efficiency of 42.1% and a compression ratio of 15.6:1, matching the GMC 2.0 electromechanical coupling system and the integrated dual-motor multi-gear DHT transmission, which can achieve multi-gear and multi-mode drive.
From the perspective of development prospects, the GMC hybrid developed by GAC Trumpchi will have more possibilities than Toyota's THS hybrid. According to reliable information, in the future, this GMC hybrid system will also be equipped with a variety of GAC Trumpchi models including Shadow Leopard. I have to say that the hybrid route of GAC Trumpchi's "walking on two legs" is still quite stable.
Shadow cool has not yet announced the specific time of listing, the price is also an unknown, but from the body size and power specifications, I personally guess that the pricing of the new car will overlap with the GS4 PLUS in a wide range, and eventually fall into the range of 110,000-160,000, if you have a similar budget, want to buy a personality and sporty SUV in the near future, you may wish to wait for this shadow cool to go public.
(Some of the pictures are from the official)
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How much is the right price for Shadow Cool?
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