All three rows of seats are first-class all-electric mobile fortresses LEVC L380
According to the data of the Passenger Association, the annual sales volume of China's MPV market in 2023 will reach 1.093 million units, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%, and the growth is most obvious among the three models of sedans, SUVs and MPVs. At the same time, the proportion of new energy models in the MPV segment is gradually increasing, such as ideal MEGA, Xpeng X9, ZEEKR 009, etc. are well-known pure electric MPV players, and slowly pure electric MPV will occupy the mainstream of this market.
Recently, another pure electric MPV has been unveiled to be launched on the market, which is the L380 from Geely's LEVC (inquire about the reserve price | check the matching). The new car is 5316mm long and has a wheelbase length of 3185mm. At the same time, L380 will have 6-seat and 8-seat products, and can also customize 3-seater products in the later stage, like this kind of pure electric MPV with diversified seats and can also be customized in the later stage, which is currently only available in LEVC's L380. So how does the overall product performance of this car?
Design: mainstream style, with its own characteristics
The design style of LEVC L380 is actually similar to that of some new energy MPVs at present, or the design trend of future products. In fact, most of the previous MPVs were designed with bullet + large grille + van body. When it comes to pure electric MPV products, there will be more and more MPVs like L380, and even the styling boundary between MPV and SUV will become more and more blurred, gradually becoming a new MPV design trend.
Returning to the specific L380 design, first of all, the design of the new car is inspired by the aerodynamic engineering design concept of the Airbus aircraft. With a streamlined surface design, the overall style is round and atmospheric. The front of the car has a three-dimensional and full-bodied shape, with split headlights, of which the upper part is a continuous circular LED daytime running light cluster, and the lower part is a high and low beam headlight cluster. In addition to these, there is a chrome front scoop and a small grille at the bottom, and the entire front end of the car has no other design elements, which is very simple. Finally, the tilting A-pillar + compact front shape can greatly improve the drag coefficient.
Coming to the side of the body, you can observe that the designers have moved the front and front wheel axles of the L380 infinitely forward, and the roof and rear are relatively flat, adopting the design concept of minimizing the front cabin and maximizing the cockpit, laying the foundation for the overall spacious interior space. In terms of body size, the length, width and height of the LEVC L380 are 5316/1998/1940mm, and the wheelbase length is 3185mm.
In terms of side details, the new car is equipped with front and rear hidden automatic pop-up door handle design, and at the same time, there is a sensing area near the front door in the B-pillar, which is likely to be prepared for the later mobile phone induction unlocking. Secondly, the rear two windows are equipped with large-area privacy glass, and the fast and slow charging interface is equipped with the left rear side of the vehicle (which can be opened inside the car or pressed by hand). A small detail can be mentioned here, when the charging port is opened, the hidden door handle of the middle side sliding door will automatically retract to remind the owner not to open the side sliding door to avoid jamming the charging port.
According to the previous declaration, the LEVC L380 will be equipped with four wheel styles. The model is equipped with a six-spoke multi-rim style and is equipped with 235/60 R18 Pirelli Scorpion tyres.
The rear is shaped in a trapezoidal style with a small inclination and a wide rear window. The design focus of the rear end falls on the continuous LED taillights, which have a divergent feel on the sides. Its social design is inspired by the beauty of the peacock's feathers when the screen is opened, and it is full of recognition when lit. Finally, the LEVC L380 is available in four exterior colors: Pearl White, Jet Black, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green.
Interior: Incorporating a lot of menu details
The LEVC L380 adopts a wrap-around cockpit design, with a spirit island area in the middle, and the front area is as simple as possible, except for the steering wheel and some physical buttons on the left side.
In terms of some materials, first of all, the interior of the car uses orange color, and the places that can be touched in the front center console area are soft materials that feel good. PVD vacuum chrome parts are used in many places inside, which has a high-end metal texture. The most noteworthy thing is the crystal knob on Spirit Island, which is designed from the precision cutting process of the diamond's profile, which is crystal clear.
Other materials such as the headliner Alcantara imported from Italy, a high-tech "microfiber fabric" that costs 4-5 times more than ordinary suede fabrics. The chair is made of semi-aniline leather seats, which are made to minimize the thickness of the paint while increasing the texture and beauty of the fabric.
Of course, the LEVC L380 has a lot of easter egg details, the ambient lighting and audio texture are designed with meteor shower lines, the air vents on both sides of the dashboard adopt the Chinese "Ruyi" shape, which cleverly combines Chinese elements, and in addition to Chinese elements, some details are also integrated into London's icons - the Tower of London and Big Ben elements.
The interior of the car is equipped with a traditional three-spoke steering wheel, and the layout of the buttons on the left and right sides is somewhat similar to that of the Lynk & Co model. The interior of the full LCD instrument cluster has a clear display effect and covers basic vehicle information. The actual model is also equipped with a head-up display with rich display content, such as lane markings, navigation arrows, etc.
The suspended central control screen adopts the same Flyme Auto car machine system as Lynk & Co 08, and the overall fluency performance is good, and there are also videos like iQiyi, Station B, etc., and most importantly, it can be linked with the Pad behind the front seats. The pads on the rear seats have their own video space and can activate several special modes that are preset on the car.
It is worth noting that the architecture of this car can support multiple L2-L4 autonomous driving technology solutions. The computing power of the supercomputing platform can reach 1000+tops, and with 5G Gigabit Ethernet transmission, it is comprehensively enhanced in terms of scenario-based user experience, display output, in-cabin and out-of-cabin perception, and APP application.
Other highlights include driver assistance features with paddle lane change assist, streaming mirrors, 50W wireless phone charging, and a panoramic canopy with adjustable dimming levels.
There are many combinations of seat changes and supports one-key adjustment
The biggest selling point of LEVC L380 is the interior seats, according to official sources, it will be equipped with 6 and 8 seats as standard in the future, and then a variety of combinations can be achieved through various scene adjustments of the seats in the car, and at the same time, it can be customized into a 3-seat layout in the later stage, that is to say, it is no problem to make a large sofa in the back. The actual model is a 6-seat layout, with three rows of seats electrically adjustable, and all three rows of seats have exclusive air conditioning adjustment areas. To put it bluntly, each seat is a first-class experience, with independent airline seats, sitting and lying freely, and switching at will. Finally, the length distance between the two rear rows of seats is 200mm.
By optimizing the direction of the body longitudinal beams and the efficient and flat design of the rear suspension, SOA realizes the complete flattening of the cabin floor under the pure electric architecture, and the space utilization rate of the whole vehicle reaches more than 75%. It can be arranged with an integrated stepless slide rail with a length of 1.9m in the front and rear, making the cabin space highly coherent and more layout possibilities.
So if you want to control some layout of the rear seats, the owner does not need to get out of the car to adjust to each seat, through the variety of space in the car machine system, you can realize five seat modes, one key can be automatically completed, and at the same time, you can make subtle adjustments for a single seat.
In addition, the car machine also has three built-in aromatherapy flavors, and secondly, the car machine can control the ventilation, heating and massage functions of the three rows of seats. The second-row seats will have a small flat plate in the armrests that can adjust the seat backrest and position, as well as control ventilation and heating functions.
Even if it is a 6-seater, the trunk space can be said to be the largest in this class, because it is based on an 8-seater model. The trunk of the actual model is equipped with a negative layer of space, which can maximize the trunk space, and secondly, if it is an 8-seat version, the fourth row of seats can completely accommodate the negative layer of space, which is the first in a pure electric MPV. According to the official introduction, the volume of this sunken negative layer reached 163L.
The SOA adopts CATL's CTP battery system integration technology, which can arrange 73-140kWh battery bandwidth, with a range of up to 700km+, and can achieve a 30-minute SOC from 10%-80% and a 200km energy supplement range in 10 minutes, followed by a high-performance permanent magnet synchronous electric drive system, with two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive layouts, of which the maximum output of two-wheel drive is 200kW and the maximum torque is 343N·m, and the maximum power of four-wheel drive models is 400kW and the maximum torque is 686N·m。
The chassis configuration is a double-ball joint MacPherson suspension + high-load multi-link suspension, and its damping system is front and rear air springs + CDC adjustable damping and damping.
Comments: The market goal of LEVC L380 is very clear, that is, to make a pure electric version of Mercedes-Benz V-class. The Mercedes-Benz V-Class is mainly for high-end commercial or family users, and the overall setting of the LEVC L380 is completely taken in this direction. Among them, the materials are high-end, rich in easter egg details, and the diversified and highest 8-seat layout is only possible in the pure electric MPV, LEVC L380. For the entire Geely Group, the emergence of L380 can open up more market segments, thereby enhancing brand influence.
Chitachi Point
LEVC is a 116-year-old classic car brand with a history of 116 years, born to travel, continuous spatial innovation, and a British cultural label. It has experienced the development stage of Rolls-Royce OEM, and has also pioneered humanized designs such as door design, privacy partition and ramp pedal in history.
Its product, Black Cab, has become a label unique to British culture. Spatial innovation is the endowment of the LEVC brand.
In 2006, Geely Group acquired a 20% stake in LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company) and in 2013 acquired a wholly owned company, marking the beginning of Geely Group's international expansion. It has gone through the M&A strategy in the 1.0 stage, the technology strategy in the 2.0 stage, and the globalization strategy in the final 3.0 stage. Relying on Geely's global technology, LEVC has developed a global space-oriented technology architecture "SOA" (SOA) in collaboration with R&D teams in China and the UK.
The L380 is the first model for the C-end. L stands for LEVC, Large, Luxury, and Link, 3 and 8 represent a minimum of three seats and a maximum of eight seats, respectively, and 0 represents zero-carbon mobility.
(Photo/text/photo: Pan Honghan, Pacific Motor)