The latest modification of the Changan CS75 Plus crossover for the Chinese market is manufacturer-rated at 2 liters of gas per 100 kilometers. It is scheduled for debut at the Auto Beijing show in April and may go on sale later this spring.
Two liters per 100 km corresponds to 117.6 miles per U.S. gallon and 141.2 miles per British liquid gallon, respectively. Changan claims that the impressive savings are owing to its latest-and-greatest powertrain from the Blue Whale series, the so-called Super Engine.
It’s not literally an engine, though, but rather a sophisticated hybrid powertrain. It incorporates a 1.5-liter petrol engine with high-pressure injection and either one or two e-motors. In City mode, the engine simply generates more power for the motors. In other modes, it may drive the wheels when necessary. The motors are also rather flexible, disengaging from the drivetrain and generating power whenever they can afford to do so. Even in the most challenging city traffic conditions, Changan promises an economy of 3.56 liters per 100 km (66 US MPG; 79.3 UK MPG).
Moving forward, the Chinese automaker plans to install the Super Engine into its other SUVs and light passenger cars. Other plans include designing a plug-in hybrid variant of it: the current implementation doesn’t support charging from external sources.
