Words: Richard Edwards
Published 18 February 2026
Dongfeng’s New Zealand distributor has addressed the elephant in the room, the safety specification shortfall with its Box city car, while simultaneously launching two new models that arrive with considerably stronger safety credentials.
Speaking at a media event to introduce the Vigo compact SUV and 007 performance sedan, Armstrong’s Distribution CEO Simon Rutherford acknowledged the Box situation openly, telling journalists there was “nothing to hide” and that Dongfeng has been “proving their partnership and their willingness to support us and to make sure we get it right.”
The Box, New Zealand’s cheapest new EV, was found to lack the side and curtain airbags fitted to the European-specification car that achieved a three-star Euro NCAP rating. Both ANCAP and NZTA declined to extend that rating to the New Zealand car, with NZTA taking the unusual step of labelling it unrated on its Rightcar website.
Rutherford didn’t offer a timeline for changes to the Box specification but indicated discussions with Dongfeng are ongoing and constructive.
The two new models tell a different safety story. Both the Vigo and 007 carry five-star Vehicle Safety Risk Ratings from NZTA, though it’s important to understand what that means and what it doesn’t. The VSRR system estimates the relative safety of vehicles based on real-world crash data from New Zealand and Australia. For newly launched vehicles with limited local crash data, the rating is instead based on an assessment of the vehicle’s safety features by the Monash University Accident Research Centre. It is not the same as an ANCAP or Euro NCAP crash test, and neither the Vigo nor the 007 has been independently crash-tested by those organisations.
The 007 does, however, hold a five-star rating from C-NCAP, China’s new car assessment programme run by the China Automotive Technology and Research Centre. The entry-level 530 Pro variant scored 93.78 percent for occupant protection, the highest among sedans in its Chinese price bracket at the time of testing, with full marks in both the side pole impact test and all child occupant protection categories. C-NCAP uses different test protocols to Euro NCAP and has historically been regarded as less stringent, but a five-star result from an independent crash testing body still provides a degree of third-party validation the Box has never had.
The Vigo has not been tested by C-NCAP, though Dongfeng says it was developed to meet five-star C-NCAP safety standards.
On equipment, both models represent a clear step up. The Vigo comes standard with six airbags, front and rear parking sensors, a 360-degree surround-view camera and a full Level Two ADAS suite including autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, lane keeping assist and forward collision warning.
The 007 matches the Vigo’s six-airbag count and adds a 540-degree surround-view camera, rear cross-traffic alert with braking, blind spot monitoring, intelligent door opening warning and a built-in dash cam.
It’s a markedly different proposition from the Box. Whether it’s enough to reset perceptions of the brand’s commitment to safety will depend on whether buyers, and safety authorities, are willing to judge the new models on their own merits.
