Zhizhi Auto / Zhengqi
In China's auto market, the sales of mini cars are not as good as in the past, but the situation of Wuling's dominance is changing.
Geely, on the other hand, is trying to get a piece of the pie with a mini car with a sleek rear wing.
1. More glamorous and sporty, the car also plays racing style
Geely's mini car is based on the facelift of its popular Panda model. Judging from the pictures released by Geely's official, this model called Panda Karting is equipped with a wide body and a large suspended rear wing. There is a sense of "nightclub modified car".
The Panda Karting will also be offered with 14-inch colour-block wheels, with Racing Black, Adventure White and Racing Grey paint accentuating the minicar's sporty nature.
Overall, the Panda Karting 3150x1540x1685mm is slightly larger in size than the Panda Knight (3135x1565x1655mm), and the 2015mm wheelbase is the same as the other versions of the Panda.
In terms of power, Panda Karting will continue to use a motor with a maximum power of 30kW and a maximum torque of 110Nm. Its battery uses a 17.03 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery with a range of 200km. So will this new car surprise in the interior?
2. The interior has not changed much, and the karting focuses on the appearance
Inside, the Panda Karting is basically the same as the Rider version. The 8-inch floating center display and 9.2-inch full LCD instrument cluster are stylish and practical with knob-type gear shifting.
In terms of interior color, the official version of the Panda Karting adopts a dual style of beige and white, which is cute and elegant. Like the Panda Knight version, the Panda Kart is equipped with hill assist and the safety configuration of reversing camera + reversing radar.
Therefore, from the perspective of configuration, the Panda Kart version does not seem to have much difference with the Knight version. However, its price has reached 49,900, which is about 3,000 more expensive than the knight version. So who's going to pay for this slightly premium model?
3. Pay for the appearance, mini cars or enter the era of personalization
It's not so much that the owners who buy the Panda kart pay for the extra 15mm length, but they pay for the gorgeous look of the kart-style. The style of Panda Kart is imitating the shape of a kart in a certain game, in other words, Geely is playing the sentimental card this time.
In 2023, the cumulative retail sales of small and micro vehicles in China will be 692,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 27.9%. Wuling Hongguang MINI, which used to have monthly sales of more than 30,000 yuan, now sells only more than 10,000 yuan.
Under the stock game, it has become the choice of many car companies to cut into the market segment through personalized models. And Panda Karting values the youthful memories of many post-90s and post-00s who played some racing games. As for its effectiveness, it remains to be verified by the market.
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