You probably haven’t heard of him. And even less will you have seen him on the street, since The launch in Spain of this SUV is scheduled for mid-2023.
The irruption of Chinese brands in Europe is set to revolutionize the market. We have already seen it with the unstoppable growth of MG Motor, driven by the success of cheap products, such as an SUV for less than €14,000.
But many surprises await us in the coming years, and not only in the economy car market. And the product that we will discuss in this article, a plug-in hybrid SUV with unprecedented autonomy, and far superior to that of its alternatives – which carry the signature of brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz – is a good example of this, having received the award for EuroNCAP’s best-in-class safest car in 2022.
The most unknown of high-end SUVs
The first WEY dealerships, a manufacturer of high-end SUVs made in China, will open in Spain in mid-2023, first in Madrid and Barcelona, to expand to other cities that have not yet been announced. WEY’s first product will be a high-end plug-in hybrid SUVcalled WEY Coffee 01, after which a second model will arrive, which actually has a short body derived from it, called WEY Coffee 02.
EuroNCAP draws up a ranking every year Best in Classwith the best of its class. The reason why it does not choose a single model as the safest of all the tests carried out throughout the year, is that the marks obtained in the EuroNCAP tests are only comparable between cars of the same category. Neither can the results be compared from one year to the next, among other reasons because the requirements are revised and are more demanding each year.
EuroNCAP large SUV tests in 2022
The sum of the scores – weighted – of WEY Coffee 01 would have been higher than those of all rivals tested in its category in 2022. WEY Coffee 01 obtained 5 EuroNCAP stars – of a maximum of 5 – and some scores – it is understood that of a maximum of 100% – 91% in protection of adult passengers, 87% in protection of child passengers, 79% in protection of pedestrians and 94% aids and driving assistance.
EuroNCAP has also considered that the new Lexus RX should be mentioned as one of the safest cars in this same category, since its score has been very close to that obtained by WEY Coffee 01.
The rest of the models (in the large SUV category) that have passed the EuroNCAP tests in 2022 and about which EuroNCAP would have considered WEY Coffee 01 and Lexus RX safer, are the following:
EuroNCAP has also considered that the ORA Funky Cat, a Chinese electric compact, from the same manufacturer as WEY (Great Wall Motor), was also the safest in its class. Despite the fact that among its rivals there were some of the best-selling and most popular compacts in Europe, such as the Volkswagen Golf, the SEAT Ibiza, the Opel Astra and the Peugeot 308.
An SUV with scandalous figures
Beyond the fact that this SUV has been defined by EuroNCAP as the safest in its classit is important to note that it is a high-end product that aims to compete with models such as the Mercedes GLE and the BMW X5, with a much more affordable price (around €55,900), a plug-in hybrid mechanics much more powerful (476 hp) and an electric autonomy that its rivals have not yet reached.
And it is that as we were able to verify in the video test that you can see at the end of this article, while most plug-in hybrids are capable of traveling around 50 kilometers without consuming gasoline, or stopping to recharge batteries, in purely electric mode ; and some have already come close to or exceed 100 kilometers of electric autonomy; WEY Coffee 01 is capable of offering an electric range of 146 kilometers (according to WLTP).
