The premium market is particularly lucrative for car manufacturers. Even Chinese car companies want to have a say in the near future.
In the recent past, it has become more common to read that Chinese automakers also want to sell their vehicles in Europe. If you take it exactly, some are already there and pursue parallel ambitious expansion plans, as shown by the look in car exchanges and at this year's Geneva Motor Show.
In addition to Dong Feng and Borgward, it is above all the BAIC brand that already sells a handful of models via German car dealers. Although there is no official BAIC import company, there are considerable numbers of offers on the relevant online car exchanges. The Chinese, who are an important joint venture partner for the Daimler Group in China, have recently formed important alliances to secure a portion of premium cakes in the future. For this mission, BAIC has, inter alia, the electric Sub-brand Arcfox in position, which presented in early March at the Geneva Motor Show with two allegedly close to production concepts.
Rather the function of a beacon project has the electrically powered Hypercar Arcfox GT, which was shown in the versions Race Edition and Street. While a total of six 750 kW / 1.000 horsepower engines are available in the race car variant, the four road-going engines mobilize 1.200 kW / 1.600 horsepower. However, the torque of the race edition is significantly higher: Here it is 1.320 compared to the 800 Newton meters of the GT. In both cases, the 1.840 Kilogram Gullwing will accelerate from 2,6 seconds to 100 speed and reach a top speed of more than 255 km / h. For the GT version, Arcfox also promises a range per battery charge of more than 400 kilometers.
Also in Geneva, the still conceptually acting, originating from the pen of Walter da Silva SUV ECF was shown, which should offer a view of the first production model of Arcfox. It is a comfort vehicle with 2,90 meter wheelbase and 600 kilometers of electric range. As early as mid-April, the BAIC offshoot wants to show more of the ECF at Auto Shanghai.
As the magazine Automobilproduktion reports, the electrical platform for Arcfox, which was developed by the joint venture partner Magna, is already nearly ready for production. The BAIC Group is currently equipping an Arcfox plant in China for the production of vehicles on the new Magna platform. The annual capacity should be at 180.000 vehicles. Already 2020, the BAIC Group will serve the Chinese market with Arcfox. It is quite possible that BAIC will also be offering its premium electric models in Germany in the not too distant future.
