At the start of the year, news of an additional modification to a Chinese model would have been out of the focus of the country’s massive auto trade. But now that the market has shrunk fivefold (32,000 units sold last month versus 152,000 in April last year), such news above all gives hope to car dealers who are drying up due to the shortage of commodity supplies.
If earlier car dealerships, especially large ones, were embarrassed to trade in Chinese cars, now the situation is the opposite. According to Anton Ganzha of Russia, Marketing Director of Chery Automobiles,
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opening centers in new cities for itself, the company can meet only one official, and the number of simultaneous applicants for this place reaches a dozen.
Expensive
Moreover, the price of Chinese cars is now unmatched, and now this is the most important consideration when buying a car of any segment. For the Tiggo 8 Pro Max, the Chinese are asking for 3.9 million rubles in the Dreamline configuration, the Ultimate series will cost 4.2 million rubles without discounts. And this is the most expensive Chery car in Russia, not counting the models of the corresponding sub-brand Exeed.
Of course, you can argue as much as you want that for this money it is easier to buy a used Kia Sorento, Porsche Cayenne or an apartment, but dealers buy these cars almost instantly on a customer’s order.
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Outwardly, the “maximum” Tiggo is almost identical to a mono driver modification that went on sale last year. The differences are in the details: for example, in the powerful version the exhaust system has two pairs of tailpipes, and all four holes are functional. They were made more for marketing reasons for the sake of a significant increase in power due to “flattening” the gas output.
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The taillights differ only in pattern, but the front LED headlights now have lenses in their sections to illuminate the corners, although they have retained the same design. A false radiator grille with a “diamond” in Mercedes-Benz is expressed by an accentuated chrome trim. In total, it turned out to be a kind of light external tuning, but backed up by a weighty argument in the form of a 197-horsepower two-liter Acteco turbo engine, which the Chinese allowed to fill with AI-92 gasoline.
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An interesting point is that the Acteco is a third generation engine and already in China it comes in 254 horsepower spec with 400 Newtons of torque. It makes sense for the first question to be: “Is it possible to achieve this power with us?” In turn, Chery representatives are sensitively silent, but it is clear that dealers will offer such a service. And that means
The most “sporty” Chinese crossover in the Russian Federation – the 238-horsepower Geely Tugella – has a full-fledged competitor.
All-wheel drive transmission is implemented here due to the American Borg Warner clutch in rear-wheel drive, to which the seven-speed front-selector “robot” Getrag transmits traction.
fancy
No less updates in the cabin. The multimedia system in the new car is combined with the instrument cluster into a kind of mono screen. It cannot be said that the previous solution is outdated, but the owner of Chery will have something to brag about, since such panels are completely available to buyers of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and even Kia. By the way, 12-inch screens do not shine in the sun, but actively attract dust due to static electricity.
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The operation of the software on the multimedia Tiggo 8 Pro with “socialbites.ca” tested at the beginning of the year it raised questions, but now heaven and earth – in the Max modification, the new firmware is perfectly coordinated, does not go into a stupor and gives exactly what you expect from it.
Connecting a smartphone through Apple Car Play helped to conveniently use Yandex navigation through standard screens even on the steppe roads of the Astrakhan region.
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True, the voice control system has only brought a smile so far, a virtual assistant can easily open all windows when asked to lower the temperature. However, this option seems useless in the entire automotive industry so far. For example, in a number of German brands, he has the ability to completely throw a person out of balance with his “deafness”.
In the cabin as a whole, it has become more comfortable: the seats are wider, and now they are molded not for the average resident of China, but, say, for a European. The seat cushion has increased, which significantly reduces the static load on the legs. The hall itself was slightly redesigned in detail, new eco-leather colors appeared.
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Fast
The all-wheel drive version of the Max offers no surprises in terms of handling and smooth ride. It’s kind of the average Chinese mundane: here the owner of a German car will complain about the lack of steering clarity in the notorious near-zero zone, and the owner of an old Korean crossover will say:
“The Chinese learned how to make cars.”
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In general, the passage is steered in a clear and predictable way. The brakes are quite sharp and there are no unpredictable deceleration effects.
Although I wanted a little more calmness and rigidity from the suspension, it is clearly sharpened for the paving regimes of large cities, but on the weak asphalt of Astrakhan roads, the shock absorbers sometimes caught a malfunction in the imperceptible potholes. And – yes, with the new engine, the crossover became chirpy, while showing an acceptable consumption for gasoline weighing two tons (about 10-11 liters).
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On sandy ground, the all-wheel drive system equipped with ESP tries to slow down the slipping wheels. It seems that the moderate bribery of the middle lane will not interfere with this car. However, it is clear that it is not worth taking the SUV away from a solid lining.
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A fairly serious level of equipment makes this car an alternative to Korean crossovers. Yes, they will be visually stronger, but the Chinese no longer lose in terms of build quality and equipment generosity. Well, Chery’s biggest trump card is, of course, the banal existence of cars. Therefore, adding such an option to the list of contenders for the purchase is not only not worth it, but also necessary.
Source: Gazeta
