5-meter-long medium and large SUV, full of oil and electricity, driving from Beijing to Shanghai？

With Toyota,Compared with other independent brands, the resources of the two head joint venture brands,GAC Chuanqi did take a lot of detours in the past.

Under the trend of energy saving and emission reduction, GAC Chuanqi has successfully played several trump cards in the hybrid power market through self-developed torque wave power and the technology of integrating Toyota THS dual-engine hybrid system.These include the second-generation GS8 and M8, two flagship models.

Although this power system consisting of 2.0T engine+motor, withLow fuel consumption, strong power and Toyota’s reputationHelping GAC Chuanqi quickly seize a lot of market share of domestic hybrid models, but for them, there are still many concerns.

On the one hand, this THS hybrid derived from Toyota technology, a considerable number of precision parts still rely on Toyota to provide, and with that year.GS8 Aisin gearbox "capacity jam"After the shadow, GAC Chuanqi has actually been afraid of this "sly" partner.

On the other hand, although "Shuangqing" has great advantages in terms of consumer use and production cost, except for Guangzhou and Tianjin,This kind of plug-in hybrid vehicle lacks the support of national policy, so it is naturally difficult to "compete fairly" with its rivals.

Therefore, abandoning Toyota and promoting self-developed plug-in hybrid have become the development focus of GAC Chuanqi at this stage.

The latest ES9 is the product of this new stage.

On October 28th, GAC Chuanqi officially announced the price of the new ES9.The new car has launched four models with a price range of 229,800-269,800 yuan.Like you, I was puzzled by the brand-new naming rules of GAC Chuanqi at first. Why is this new car called ES9 when it is obviously a "plug-in hybrid version of GS8"? The same question actually appeared on the MPV model M8/E9, and only after I really understood the ES9 did I understand Chuanqi’s painstaking efforts.

In appearance, the version of ES9 Traveler that we got has.A more wild design,Whether it is the shape of the bumper or the thick chrome plating above the large air intake grille, it is emitting a rough taste that is unique to off-road vehicles.

The widened wheel eyebrows and the rear "small schoolbag" make the ES9 traveler have a wider and longer body than the ordinary version.Body measurements of 5110/1976/1780mm and wheelbase of 2920mm,It is just right for such a medium and large SUV.

However, this small schoolbag on the tailgate is not a place to put the spare tire, but an extra loading space outside the car.Weak bearing capacity (3kg) and limited space.It also means that it can only hold sundries such as car chargers and cleaning supplies, and its main function is to set off the atmosphere of the whole car.

Of course, if you think this look is a bit too wild, you can also choose the cheaper regular version of ES9, and its appearance is basically the same as that of GS8.

But it is worth noting that,The regular version of ES9 only provides a seven-seat layout of 2+3+2, while the Voyager version has a six-seat layout of 2+2+2.The two independent seats in the middle row are more distinguished, and at the same time, they also provide a more practical 220v power supply in the car to meet the needs of more car scenes.

However, apart from the novelty in appearance, there is not much difference in interior design between ES9 Traveler and GS8. Although the layout is conventional, the overall ergonomic design and texture are still quite in place.

It is commendable that even after using a larger battery, the interior space of the ES9 has not shrunk compared with that of the GS8.Both the vertical and the head space are maintained at a high level.Although the positioning of medium and large SUVs means that its third row will inevitably have certain limitations, it is not a problem to meet the short-distance travel of adults.

You can also pass without having to travel in full.Electric foldingPut away the seats in the third row and enter the "big four-seat mode" to get more ample luggage carrying space.

As the current product line of GAC Chuanqi’s entire SUV,Ceiling models,The configuration of ES9 is naturally impossible to disappoint. L2 driver assistance, 540 panoramic image, external discharge, matrix LED headlights, remote car control, 10-speaker Alpine sound system, and 32-color ambient lights are all standard.

And likeFront seat ventilation heating massage, two-row seat heating, automatic anti-glare rearview mirror, etc. are standard in the other three versions except the lowest models. It can be seen that the static performance of the ES9 in the car is almost the general existence of inspection-free products.

However, the static performance of this car is excellent, which doesn’t surprise us at all. After all, it just continues the high-level performance of the original GS8 series. What we are curious about is that,What is the performance of Chuanqi’s own 2-speed DHT plug-in hybrid system after abandoning Toyota’s dual engines?

As a rule, we still have to report the parameters.

This plug-in hybrid system is composed of a 2.0T engine and two motors in series and parallel, among whichThe maximum power of the engine is 190 HP, and the maximum power of the driving motor is 182 HP.The nominal comprehensive power of the system reaches 372 HP and the maximum torque is 630 Nm. However, as we all know, the real power of the hybrid system can’t be simply added up, and the system itself is mainly oriented to fuel economy, so the actual power performance of the ES9 has no data to bluff, and its 0-100km/h acceleration time is 8 seconds, which is more than enough for daily use.

At the same time, the ES9 is also equipped with a ternary lithium battery with a capacity of 25.57kWh, which can provide a pure electric cruising range (CLTC) of 143km.The fuel consumption due to power shortage is 6.18L/100km.The official declared that under the condition of full oil (56L) and full electricity, the ES9′ sThe theoretical maximum endurance can reach 1215km.This distance has exceeded the distance between Beijing and Shanghai.

In terms of energy efficiency, this system obviously has no serious injuries, and when driving on actual roads, it is difficult for us to detect the gap between it and the GS8 hybrid except that it prefers to drive in pure electric mode. The structure of 2-speed DHT is more to meet the efficient operation of engine and motor under more working conditions, and it will not cause nuisance to ride comfort when driving in urban areas.The higher proportion of electric drive also gives the whole vehicle an advantage in NVH and high sense of operation.

Unfortunately, at present, ES9 only provides the front-wheel drive model, but not the four-wheel drive version like GS8. Although the four-wheel drive system of urban SUV is not just needed, for such a wild-looking model, a simple four-wheel drive, even if only one rear axle motor is arranged, may be all right.Greatly expand the possibility of car use, and at the same time better play the power potential of this plug-in hybrid system.

At the same time, perhaps because of the test car, there are still some defects in the calibration of the ES9 brake pedal we tested.The transition between kinetic energy recovery and mechanical braking is not smooth enough.In the future, we will also pay attention to the feedback from real users to see if there will be corresponding optimization on the production models.In addition, the dynamic performance of ES9 is in line with our expectations.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier,Why should ES9 be called ES9 instead of "GS8 PHEV"?On this issue. I think a big reason is that GAC Chuanqi is quite confident about their ability of this plug-in hybrid system. The reason why they don’t simply and rudely name this new car (including the previous M9) as GS8 PHEV/ M8 PHEV is because of them.I don’t want consumers to regard it as "Toyota Hybrid+Big Battery"The product of. GAC Chuanqi obviously wants to tell you through this method that we have not only quit "Toyota dependence", but also the quality of the works we produce is online, which is more in line with the needs of the China market.

Shortly after the launch of ES9, there were rumors that GAC Chuanqi would gradually stop production of GS8 twin-engine models, and from the latest 2024 GS8 product line, it is not difficult to find that this classic car series has beenFrom 15 versions of the 2022 model (9 fuel models and 6 dual-engine models) to 4 versions (2 fuel models and 2 dual-engine models).It can be seen that under the condition that the landing price has no obvious disadvantage, the ES9 with richer car scenes can completely replace the positioning of the GS8 dual engine.

No matter from the long-term development of the brand or from the perspective of consumers, this wave of operation of GAC Chuanqi is absolutely smart.