SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, General Motors’ light-vehicle partnership with SAIC Motor Corp., began sales of its first hybrid vehicle on Thursday as part of its effort to improve its product lineup’s fuel economy.
The vehicle, the Xingchen, is a hybrid compact crossover marketed under the Wuling brand. It has a 99,800 yuan ($14,569) starting price, SAIC-GM-Wuling said.
The vehicle is 180 inches long and 72 inches wide, roughly the same size as a Chevrolet Equinox.
The Xingchen is fitted with two electric motors and a 2.0-liter gasoline engine. It can reach a speed of 60 kilometers per hour in 3.2 seconds.
The hybrid crossover drives on batteries only at low speeds, and is powered by engines at high speeds.
Its overall fuel consumption is 5.7 liters per 100 km. On urban roads, the fuel consumption can be lowered to 4.6 liters per 100 km, according to SAIC-GM-Wuling.
SAIC-GM-Wuling, based in the southwest China city of Liuzhou, mainly builds minibuses for the Wuling brand and entry-level cars for the Baojun marque.
It is China’s largest manufacturer of minibuses and micro full EVs.
Sales at the company jumped 32 percent year on year to 145,017 in July, with year-to-date volume sliding less than one percent to 767,091, according to data released by SAIC.