The Russian company "Motorinvest," the official dealer of Dongfeng Motor Corporation cars in Russia, has begun selling the seven-seater Evolute i-Space hybrid crossover. Taking into account Russian realities, the car is equipped with a mode for driving on snow and 180 mm ground clearance.
Evolute i-Space is very similar to the Chinese Dongfeng Fengon E5, on the basis of which it is assembled. It has streamlined contours, modern LED design and a signature backlit nameplate.
The car has a large panoramic roof, a Huawei-based media system, an acoustic system with 12 speakers, comfortable front seats with electric adjustments, heating and ventilation. The second and third rows of seats fold down to form a trunk with a volume of up to 2,125 liters.
Evolute i-Space was designed to be safe when traveling in the city and out of town - it has safe door opening systems, a surround view camera, and a DVR. Blind spot monitoring, lane change assistant and rear collision warning systems are also in operation.
The hybrid installation inside the new product consists of an electric motor (178 hp and 300 Nm) and a traction battery (17.5 kW/h), which is recharged by a 1.5-liter gasoline engine (110 hp). Acceleration time to 100 kilometers per hour is only 7.4 seconds, and the maximum speed is 165 kilometers per hour.
The combined fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is 5.5 liters - the fuel tank volume is 60 liters. If you use batteries with a capacity of 17.52 kW.h., you can drive only 87 kilometers on them. The car charging time is 4 hours from a 6.6 kW charging device. The total range is 1150 km.
The Evolute i-Space gearbox is E-CVT (variator), there is directional stability, support on descents and different driving modes: economical, normal, sports. The drive is front, there are no all-wheel drive versions. On the rear axle there is an independent spring suspension. Front and rear brakes are disc brakes.
The price of Evolute i-Space is not the lowest - 3,899,000 rubles, there is no information about discounts and promotions yet. It is produced in the same place as other Evolute electric vehicles based on Dongfeng Motor Corporation models since the end of 2022 - at a factory in Lipetsk.
Dongfeng Motor Corporation intended to increase production at the Lipetsk plant - ordinary Dongfeng ix5 and Dongfeng ix7 gasoline crossovers were to be added to the Evolute electric vehicles.
However, more than a thousand of these cars will be assembled at Avtotor in Kaliningrad. According to Motorinvest, this will be a large-node assembly in the DKD (Disassembled Knock Down) format. That is, the assembly of cars from car kits obtained by removing the engine, gearbox, bumpers, headlights, mirrors, wheels from fully assembled and ready-made cars.
The reason for the transfer of assembly to Avtotor, according to a Vedomosti source in the company, is that the processes of large-node assembly for electric vehicles and cars with internal combustion engines "differ significantly".