Chery launched the all-electric eQ5 in China three years ago saying it had big hopes for it, but the crossover sold so poorly that the company had to halt the assembly lines and get back to the drawing board. It has now come out with an updated model that it renamed to ‘eQ7’. It will go on sale before the end of August priced from the equivalent of U.S. $20,000.
Along with a new model designation, the eQ5 received a major stylistic overhaul with new front and rear ends, revised lighting and bumpers, and new wheels. Inside, the transmission tunnel was stripped clean of physical buttons and a charging pad was added. The center console was treated in the same way and the steering wheel was updated. The dashboard and the door panels stayed unchanged, though.
The new Chery eQ7 can only be obtained with one electric motor rated at 211 PS (208 hp / 155 kW) and 285 Nm (210 lb-ft) of torque. The electricity is provided by a 67.1-kWh LiFePo4 traction battery that yields 512 km (318 miles) of CLTC-rated driving range per charge.
