GAC-Toyota ix4: the brand's first mass-market BEV

Joaquin Ruhi

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As Toyota faces Chinese market requirements that 10% of its production by 2019 consist of "new-energy vehicles", its strategy finally emerges: rework one of Chinese partner GAC's vehicles, the Trumpchi GS4, shown below.

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Reuters' Norihiko Shirouzu brings us an informative and insightful account of what to expect:

Exclusive: Toyota plans to roll into China's EV market in GAC Motor vehicle

Toyota Motor Corp is taking an unprecedented route to meet China’s stringent green car quotas: its showrooms will sell an electric vehicle without the Japanese company’s distinctive triple-oval logo.

Instead, it will feature the label of GAC Motor, Toyota’s Chinese partner, and will be built around GAC’s lower-cost technology.

The move - a first for Toyota - will give GAC access to the Japanese carmaker’s stringent quality control, prestige and sales channel. For Toyota, it presents a quick way to meet Beijing’s requirements that such vehicles represent 10 percent of an auto manufacturer’s production by 2019.

According to two company executives familiar with the matter, Toyota plans to start selling the GAC Toyota ix4 by the end of the year. The car is a battery-powered compact SUV based on GAC’s Trumpchi GS4, and has been in development for two years.

Selling a car derived from a Chinese partner’s vehicle would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But the idea gained momentum at Toyota because of the Chinese government’s push to get more electric vehicles on the road, the executives said.

The government mandates have spurred other new alliances, such as Ford Motor Co’s agreement to develop electric vehicles with Zotye Automobile Co.

Ford is waiting for regulatory approval for its partnership, which calls for designing and manufacturing several jointly developed no-frills EVs and selling them through a new China-only brand.

It wasn’t immediately clear which parts of the ix4 Toyota would provide, or which company’s design standards were used. Quality experts say GAC cars rate relatively high.

According to Jeff Cai, a Beijing-based senior director at JD Power & Associates, some of GAC’s cars, such as the Trumpchi GS8 crossover SUV, already stack up well head-to-head with vehicles marketed by global automakers.

“The GS4 is a good car with acceptable quality,” Cai said. He added that the GS4 ranked No. 1 among Chinese brands and No. 3 among all brands for initial quality in the compact SUV category.

One question, however, is GAC cars’ longer-term reliability and dependability, Cai said.

Under the new Chinese regulations taking effect next year, carmakers must amass credits for so-called new-energy vehicles equivalent to 10 percent of annual sales by 2019. That level rises to 12 percent for 2020. New-energy vehicles are defined as all-electric battery and plug-in electric hybrid cars.

Although the ix4 gives Toyota a cheaper and quicker way to meet the quota, it also shows the company’s anxiety about getting a toehold in the Chinese EV market before its own all-battery vehicle is available in 2020, industry officials and experts said.

“It’s a creative solution to a critical issue all automakers face in China: how to meet the strict production quotas for electric cars,” said James Chao, Shanghai-based Asia-Pacific head of consultancy IHS Markit.

Until recently, Toyota was one of the industry’s major hold-outs against full electrification. The company had planned to more or less skip battery-powered cars and turn instead to hydrogen fuel-cell technology as a mainstream alternative to gasoline-fueled cars.

But China’s seemingly inexorable drive toward electric cars changed that attitude.

At the Beijing auto show last month, Toyota unveiled plug-in electric hybrid versions of its Corolla and Levin, due to go on sale in 2019. The company is also developing an all-electric battery car of its own, which the company has said should hit the market in 2020.

“All this means our partnership has entered a new phase,” the second Toyota executive said.

The GAC-Toyota joint venture, established in 2004, has always produced and sold Toyota vehicles modified to sell in China or China-only Toyota cars.

To be sure, industry officials and analysts believe GAC Motor cars such as the Trumpchi GS4 have been developed through studying global brands’ cars, including those from its partners Toyota and Honda Motor Co.

Toyota is negotiating to execute a similar EV deal with its second partner, FAW Group, but nothing has been finalised, according to the first Toyota executive.

Both executives declined to provide other details, including a target sales volume for the all-electric car or a pricing strategy for it. Toyota will assemble the vehicle at a factory in Guangzhou.

The second executive said, however, that Toyota and GAC Motor would have to sell a “fairly sizable number” of ix4s to help the Toyota-GAC joint venture meet Beijing’s quotas.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-ev-market-in-gac-motor-vehicle-idUSKCN1IJ07K
 

mmcartalk

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Didn't see it mentioned in the article, but Mitsubishi is also marketing a version of it.

https://paultan.org/2018/02/28/mitsubishi-eupheme-plug-in-hybrid-suv-revealed-for-china-market/

Mitsubishi Eupheme plug-in hybrid SUV revealed for China market – up to 600 km of range, 1.8 l/100 km
In Cars, International News, Mitsubishi / By Gerard Lye / 28 February 2018 4:18 pm / 18 comments




Developed as part of a joint venture between Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) and GAC Mitsubishi Motors (GMMC), the new Mitsubishi Eupheme is set to go on sale in China from March this year. The Eupheme is a plug-in hybrid SUV that has a base price of around US$33,000 (RM129,525), and will be made available in five key cities – Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Tianjin – initially.

The two-wheel drive powertrain is made up of a 1.5 litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine rated at 95 hp at 5,500 rpm and 120 Nm of torque from 2,500 to 5,000 rpm. Hybridisation comes in the form GAC’s G-MC electromechanical coupling system, which features a 130 kW (174 hp)/300 Nm electric motor.

A liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack supplies power to the electric motor, and can be charged via a dedicated port. The plug-in hybrid system also comes with a number of drive modes, including a default Eco as well as Save, Charge and EV only. The Eupheme is claimed to offer up to 600 km of cruising range, and a fuel consumption of as low as 1.8 l/100 km.



In terms of dimensions, the Eupheme measures 4,510 mm long, 1,852 mm wide and 1,708 mm tall and has a 2,650 mm wheelbase. The SUV also comes with a ground clearance of 150 mm, and has a curb weight of 1,760 kg.

Equipment-wise, the SUV comes with 18-inch wheels (shod with 215/55 profile tyres), six airbags, halogen projector headlights, LED combination taillights, digital instrument cluster, six-way powered driver seat, leather upholstery, single-zone automatic air-conditioning, touchscreen infotainment system and T-Box telematics system.
 

ssun30

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This is just embarrassing. Although business is business and they made the sensible decision.

Many of you might know that all Trumpchi vehicles are based on the Alfa Romeo 166 chassis. Last time I checked Alfa Romeo is not known for its reliability...
 

Joaquin Ruhi

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As Toyota faces Chinese market requirements that 10% of its production by 2019 consist of "new-energy vehicles", its strategy finally emerges: rework one of Chinese partner GAC's vehicles, the Trumpchi GS4.

Didn't see it mentioned in the article, but Mitsubishi is also marketing a version of it.

It seems that the rebadging of the GAC Trumpchi GS4 is extending beyond Toyota and Mitsubishi to GAC's other foreign partners: Fiat Chrysler and Honda. Bloomberg Hyperdrive explains:

The Car That Will Help Big Automakers Game China's New Rules
By Jie Ma - October 31, 2018
  • Companies tap Chinese electric model to gain green-car credits
  • China’s more stringent emission rules kicking in early 2019
Automakers typically want their cars to stand out. However, China’s push for greener vehicles is prompting Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Honda and Mitsubishi to resort to an unusual move: they’re set to sell the same car.

The four carmakers all plan to sell an electrified SUV developed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., the Chinese manufacturing partner they share. Each brand will have their own name emblazoned at the rear of the car, but the look will be the same. The approach -- atypical in an industry where distinct design is key to gaining an edge -- will help them meet China’s new, stricter emissions standards more quickly, giving them time to keep working on their own unique electric models.

Carmakers are trying various tactics to avoid being placed at a disadvantage by the new regulations in the world’s largest auto market. Designed to make China’s roads greener, the rules favor electric-car makers while presenting a threat to the profit margins of the vast majority of auto manufacturers that still rely on gas guzzlers for most of their revenue.

Toyota Motor Corp. is selling a pure-electric version of the Guangzhou Auto SUV, called GS4, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp. offers EV and plug-in hybrid variants. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Honda Motor Co. are planning gasoline-hybrid versions of the car, according to research firm IHS Markit.

Cap and Trade

The variants will all carry Guangzhou Auto’s Trumpchi badge in the front, and the name of the foreign maker’s local joint venture on the back. Prices vary by specifications offered by each carmaker. An EV model sold by Mitsubishi, named Eupheme, costs about $20,000, while Toyota’s version named ix4 starts from about $23,600.

Under China’s so-called cap-and-trade policy, automakers must obtain a new-energy vehicle score -- which is linked to the production of various types of zero- and low-emission vehicles -- starting January 2019. Those who fail to comply must buy credits.

Guangzhou Auto started sales of the gasoline-powered Trumpchi GS4 in 2015 and it quickly became its best-selling model. It added a plug-in hybrid version in June 2017 and sold 6,707 units of that variant this year through September, making it one of the top-selling gasoline-electric models.

“It’s a model with proven sales track record,” said Wang Shan, an auto analyst with IHS Markit. “Even if it may not be a money-making business, it’s still better for the carmakers to sell this model than to buy credits.”

Toyota said it expects the new model to be counted as a plus credit for its venture with Guangzhou Auto, and that it is developing its own battery electric vehicle toward 2020. Honda and Fiat Chrysler declined to comment on future model production.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ll-help-big-automakers-game-china-s-new-rules
 

Will1991

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Toyota... Just do a decent BEV... This is the kind of attitude you should try to skip... Not BEV's...
 

ssun30

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Toyota... Just do a decent BEV... This is the kind of attitude you should try to skip... Not BEV's...
They used to put a RAV4 shell on a Tesla Model S for the same exact reason. These are compliance cars anyway so they can focus their effort on true quality BEVs.
 

spwolf

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They used to put a RAV4 shell on a Tesla Model S for the same exact reason. These are compliance cars anyway so they can focus their effort on true quality BEVs.

You do know it wasn't rav4 shell over tesla, right?
 

Ian Schmidt

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Those Rav4 EVs have a cult following. I saw one where the owner had it towing a custom trailer containing a full Model S battery pack so he could get like 400 miles of range plus added cargo space.
 

Ian Schmidt

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Many of you might know that all Trumpchi vehicles are based on the Alfa Romeo 166 chassis. Last time I checked Alfa Romeo is not known for its reliability...

Alfa's problems are with the drivetrain and electronics though. Their handling (which in large part comes from the chassis) is almost universally praised. Not that I have high quality expectations for Chinese-built vehicles, but using an Italian chassis is the least of their worries.
 

mmcartalk

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Not that I have high quality expectations for Chinese-built vehicles,

I did a full-review some time ago on the Chinese-built Buick Envision, so far the only mass-produced Chinese vehicle sold in the U.S., and couldn't find any significant quality problems with it. The only thing I found objectionable (and it was on one of the first ones to arrive here) was a rather foul-smelling interior (somewhat like disinfectant) instead of the usual pleasant new-car smell. The Chinese plants apparently use a different finishing process than plants in some other countries. That has, since, been modified to better-suit American tastes......or, rather, smells, LOL. :yum
 

spwolf

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Those Rav4 EVs have a cult following. I saw one where the owner had it towing a custom trailer containing a full Model S battery pack so he could get like 400 miles of range plus added cargo space.

there was a reason that Toyota spent more money and produced it in their factory as well as added extra plating to the battery pack compared to Tesla (and Tesla recalled year after to add same thing to their vehicles).
 

ssun30

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You do know it wasn't rav4 shell over tesla, right?

RAV4 shell over Tesla is a compliment. Although in essence this ix4 is the opposite of the RAV4 EV: it's a GAC GS4 with Toyota-developed motor and PCU.

If I was really serious I wouldn't be saying that. After all, there is no 'shell on a chassis' (aka body-on-frame) in a unibody car.
 

Ian Schmidt

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I did a full-review some time ago on the Chinese-built Buick Envision, so far the only mass-produced Chinese vehicle sold in the U.S., and couldn't find any significant quality problems with it.

The for-export stuff obviously has to meet US and European standards, but I'm thinking in particular of the infamous crash test video where a domestic model Chery was basically obliterated in a crash that you'd walk away from in any US/European/Japanese/Korean car.
 

Ian Schmidt

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there was a reason that Toyota spent more money and produced it in their factory as well as added extra plating to the battery pack compared to Tesla (and Tesla recalled year after to add same thing to their vehicles).

Yeah, and that wasn't the only improvement Toyota made that Tesla copied. To the extent that their cars are decent it's basically due to that Rav4.