The Sterra ES hit the market less than 20 days ago, and the new variant lowers the starting price by 12 percent, underscoring the brutal competition in China's EV market.
(Image credit: Exeed)
Chery's premium car brand Exeed has launched a new version of its first electric sedan, the Sterra ES, that lowers the starting price by RMB 27,000 ($3,770), a rare move that comes less than 20 days after the model's official launch and underscores the brutal competition in China's EV market.
Exeed launched the new Sterra ES variant on January 7 at a starting price of RMB 198,800, a 12 percent reduction from the model's starting price of RMB 225,800 when it went on sale on December 20.
The lowest-priced variant eliminates comfort features including air suspension and CDC electromagnetic damping system as compared to the previous versions on sale.
Meanwhile, Exeed has announced RMB 20,000 cash discounts on all five previous variants of the Sterra ES with immediate effect, but only available to an initial 10,000 customers.
The Sterra ES is an all-electric mid-to-large-sized sedan with a length, width and height of 4,945 mm, 1,978 mm and 1,467 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 3,000 mm.
The model is available both on the conventional 400 V platform and on a higher voltage 800 V platform. Its latest entry-level version is based on the 400 V platform.
The five versions of the Sterra ES available at launch include four single-motor versions and one dual-motor version. Two of the least expensive versions were built on the 400 V platform, while the other three were built on the 800 V platform.
Its single-motor version uses two different motors with a maximum power of 185 kW and 230 kW. Its dual-motor version is equipped with front and rear motors with a maximum power of 123 kW and 230 kW, respectively, and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds.
The car was available in five range variants at launch, with CLTC ranges of 550 km, 605 km, 650 km, 720 km and 905 km. The latest entry-level version of the CLTC has a range of 550 kilometers.
Exeed announced at the launch of the Sterra ES that the model comes with air suspension as standard. The newly launched RMB 198,800 new variant breaks that practice.
The Sterra ES is similar in looks and size to the Luxeed S7, the first model under the Luxeed brand jointly created by Huawei and Chery, and the launch of the new variant at a lower price less than a month after its launch hints at a potentially poor initial reception.
Even though 2024 has just begun, price competition among car companies on EVs is raging.
Chery New Energy, Chery's NEV subsidiary, announced on December 29 that it had lowered the official guide prices of its Little Ant and QQ Ice Cream series models by RMB 5,000 to RMB 8,000.
Chery New Energy was the first to fire the first shot of the official price cuts for the new year, it previously wrote on Weibo.
After that, several other car companies announced price cuts for their EV models.
($1 = RMB 7.1583)
Chery's Exeed brand launches 1st electric sedan with CLTC range of up to 905 km
