Chery’s premium Exlantix brand confirmed for New Zealand

Chery is adding another brand to the New Zealand market, with Exlantix confirmed for Australasia by Lilian Xiong, CEO of Exeed and Exlantix International.

Xiong made the confirmation at the Exeed International User Summit in Shanghai. The company used the event to show its new design direction and upcoming models, ahead of a track programme at the Zhejiang International Circuit.

Exlantix is the electric and range-extender arm of Exeed, Chery’s premium brand, and is sold in China as Sterra. It launched in Europe last year in Norway with the ES sedan and ET SUV. Xiong says the Exeed name couldn’t be registered here because it was too similar to an existing trademark. She didn’t say which one, though Mitsubishi uses the Exceed name for its top-spec models.

Exeed now has 560,000 customers in more than 40 countries, Xiong says, and she believes those buyers choose a young brand because they want to be early to new things.

“They enjoy new things because we are young and we are new,” she says. “We have new design, we have new technology, and they enjoy experiencing new things and leading the trends in their city or their country.”

Xiong says Exlantix will be positioned against other premium Chinese new-energy brands, which makes Zeekr and Denza its most likely targets rather than the Europeans. It is aimed at buyers who already own an electric car and want a step up in design and interior quality.

The first two models

Launch timing is still to be confirmed, but the first two models will be the ET SUV and ES GT shooting brake, both shown at the summit in right-hand drive.

The ET is a large five-seat SUV built on Chery’s E0X platform. The facelifted version measures 4,988 mm long, 1,975 mm wide and 1,710 mm tall, on a 3,000 mm wheelbase. That makes it longer than a BMW X5 or Volvo XC90, but lower than both. It has a drag coefficient of 0.26, and air suspension with continuous damping control.

It is offered with full electric and range-extended powertrains. The range-extended version pairs a 1.5-litre turbo petrol generator with a 41.16 kWh LFP battery. Rear-drive versions are rated at 245 km of electric range and 1,520 km in total on China’s CLTC cycle. All-wheel-drive versions manage 225 km and 1,300 km, and produce 377 kW and 642 Nm from front and rear motors. The electric ET uses a 97.7 kWh battery with up to 726 km of CLTC range, and supports 800V charging. Both the electric and range-extended versions are expected here, though that is yet to be confirmed.

In China the facelift is sold as the Exeed EX7, and it is the first production car with electro-mechanical brake-by-wire. The system is fitted to all-wheel-drive versions and replaces hydraulic brake lines with an electric motor at each wheel. Exeed claims a response time of 90 milliseconds, against around 280 for a hydraulic system, and a 33 m stop from 100 km/h. Rear-drive versions get six-piston front calipers instead. Inside there is a 30-inch display across the dash and a fridge.

The ES GT is a shooting brake version of the ES sedan and the first wagon in the Exlantix line-up. The company showed a video of the almost-final pre-production car at the summit. It says the car is less than eight months from final release, with a global launch planned for 2027 that includes Europe.

The China-market version was revealed at the Guangzhou motor show last year as the ES7 GT, and pairs a range extender with three electric motors. Exeed claims more than 1,700 km of CLTC range and 0-100 km/h in under three seconds. It also claims 1,000V charging that adds around 450 km in five minutes. The cabin has a display running across the dashboard, a separate floating centre screen, genuine carbon fibre trim and sports seats with active side bolsters.

A new design language

The design presentation introduced Perpetua, a design language based on water, which splits the range into a sporty line and a luxury line.

The sporty line takes its cues from water in motion, and Christos Pavlidis, Exeed’s exterior design manager, says the ES GT is the stepping stone to it.

“We wanted to capture that precise moment before a wave is about to break, unleashing the power,” he says. “The volumes are charged with energy, as if the bodywork is pushed forward by a visible current. The muscular proportions communicate acceleration even when the car is at standstill.”

What comes next

The luxury line draws on ice, with upright shapes, flat surfaces and a large grille.

“For us, luxury is expressed through verticality, majesty, simplicity and timelessness,” Pavlidis says.

Three luxury models were shown: Exeed’s first people mover, and the EX8 and EX7 SUVs, which share a platform.

Juan Manuel Díaz, head of design for Exeed and Exlantix, says the people mover is designed to have presence without busy styling.

“We want this car to be monumental. We want it to stand in a proper way, very sophisticated, and give a serious feeling,” Díaz says. “The car will talk by itself, without shouting with strange lines.”

The EX8 is the more spacious of the two SUVs. “We wanted to create a very balanced and proportionate SUV with very good details,” Díaz says. “It’s a luxurious car. We have space, we sell space.”

The EX7, the name the facelifted ET carries in China, is the sportier of the pair. “With the EX7 we wanted to play more with the feelings,” Díaz says. “The long wheelbase, the flatter roof and the short overhangs give us this really sporty feeling.”

Xiong says the shift to autonomous driving is shaping the brand’s thinking, and Exeed will launch a robotaxi programme, probably next year. It will be trialled in a single market first and is not planned for New Zealand.

“In the future, maybe one or two years from now, we will not always be driving the car. You will spend more time in the car not driving,” she says. “So maybe we need more space, more functions, more connections.”

Chery’s growing family

Exlantix joins a growing line-up of Chery-owned brands confirmed for New Zealand. Omoda and Jaecoo are already on sale here alongside the Chery badge itself, and Lepas, iCaur and Freelander, Chery’s joint-venture brand with Jaguar Land Rover, are all on the way.

Between them, the group has at least seven EVs lined up for New Zealand by 2027. Chery’s other brands include Jetour, and Luxeed, which it builds with Huawei.