Many people will be unfamiliar with the brand LEVC, but when it comes to British taxis, there may be a sense of picture, which is exactly the product of LEVC, and it is also the only impression that most people have of this brand. In fact, LEVC has a history of 116 years, and now this brand on the verge of disappearing has ushered in a turnaround, after being acquired by Geely, LEVC was given new functions, and launched a pure electric MPV, based on the SOA architecture of the L380.
First of all, let's familiarize ourselves with what SOA architecture is, its full English name is Space Oriented Architecture, which was released last year. The SOA architecture can cover the wheelbase from 3000mm to 3800mm, and can arrange a battery bandwidth of 73 to 140kWh, which can realize a variety of drive forms such as front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. In addition, the corresponding L.OS intelligent mobile digital space supercomputing platform has a computing power of more than 1000 tops, and supports a variety of L2-L4 autonomous driving technology solutions. It is the technological foundation on which the LEVC brand is globalised, and the L380 is the first model from which it was born.
In order to reflect the level of the new architecture, and for the "380" numbers, this new pure electric MPV must be big enough. Therefore, it has a length of 5316 and a wheelbase of 3185, a flat floor design created by SOA architecture, an integrated stepless slide rail up to 1.9m long, a passenger compartment passage width of 200mm, a vehicle space utilization rate of 75%, and a tail space that can be expanded to 163L. Of course, the above data can only be used as evidence, and the real experience still has to enter the car.
By the way, as is customary, we all start with the exterior, but when Brett Boydell, the chief designer of the L380 and former head of Bentley design, introduced the car, he mentioned that its design benchmark was to start with the interior and space design, so I followed the idea of exploring the interior first. The L380 is available in both 6-seater and 8-seater models, both of which are two-seater designs in one row, which means that the 8-seater model is a four-row design, which is indeed rare. The space of the first three rows is almost completely equal, the third row has the same comfort as the second row, and the second and third rows share a large area of 2.18 square meters.
Paying attention to the details, each seat in the car is designed with individual aviation seats and uses the finest semi-aniline leather. The roof is made of Alcantara imported from Italy, with a high coefficient of friction and full color. The main instrument panel of the L380 cockpit is inspired by the staggered rock formations, and the secondary instrument panel is integrated with yacht elements and has a sense of levitation. The air vents on both sides of the dashboard adopt the Chinese "Ruyi" shape, and other details are integrated with elements of the Tower of London and Big Ben, cleverly combining Chinese and Western cultures.
The overall design concept of L380 is based on the X SPACE product concept proposed by LEVC, in addition to space and luxury, it is also necessary to create a "time and space environment" that conforms to consumer aesthetics. "The realm of time and space" is also the theme of this design analysis meeting, as mentioned earlier that the L380 defines the car from the inside out, so let's finally take a look at how it looks like the topic. Its front face is similar to another famous "380", the curved annular headlights will divide the whole, and the rounded outline outlines the shape similar to the head of an airplane, and the waterfall grille that is used to MPVs on the market is different, the front face of the L380 is more simple and more convergent.
The tail is much more public, and the peacock winged taillights run through the entire taillights, widening the vision, improving the recognition, and echoing the typical British LOGO of LEVC. L380 is available in four colours, all inspired by nature's precious gemstones: Australian White Pearl, Xinjiang Hetian Jade, Kashmir Sapphire and Burmese Imperial Emerald.
In fact, the overall appearance of L380 is not very coherent, but it is not in harmony, because it expresses the attitude that the brand wants to show to consumers, and it can be seen that the design team of LEVC is very romantic. They have made some convergence in the field of new energy to show technology and the future, to trace the demeanor of this century-old British brand, and combine the original culture and rebirth culture in many details, so that passengers can not only have a luxurious space, but also enhance the visual enjoyment.
From the L380, we can see the strategic significance of the LEVC brand to Geely, SOA architecture compatibility will bring a wave of impact to the new energy MPV market, to reflect its ability to shape space, luxury and intelligent technology needs a suitable carrier, and Kito is a British brand with a history of 100 years but very "clean" is very suitable.
This article was written by Amiens, a kick-in car