China has yet another electric SUV - Niutron NV starts at $39,100

Another day and another electric SUV from China breaks cover. Sometimes it feels like China keeps coming up with new brands and new cars every day. The progress of electric car development is relentless and Niutron NV is the best example of it.

12 months ago Niutron did not exist, maybe in the head of its founder Yan Li, former CTO of Baidu and billionaire. What is there to do for a billionaire? Everyone wants to be like Elon Musk it seems. Hardly a difference between them and us, while we play with cars they play with car factories.

Back to Niutron and the relentless progress of the Chinese EV industry. The company was only founded in December last year, in March of this year it presented the prototype of Niutron NV and promised to start production in September. Not many people believed the company and yet here we are. The production has started, the vehicle has been officially unveiled today and the deliveries will start in December. They make it look so simple.

Neutron NV then, it’s not a great or revolutionary looking SUV by any stretch of imagination but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it either. It has a classic shape with a bit of an inspiration from older Range Rovers, headlights with a hint of Bronco and taillights that wouldn’t look out of place on any SUV.

At nearly 5 meters long, it offers loads of room for the 5 passengers. The interior looks comfortable, the front seats recline all the way and have a footrest as well. The front of the cabin is dominated by a giant vertical screen. Although “only” 15.6 inches diagonally, it is quite narrow which makes it look so much taller than it really is. There are thankfully few tactile buttons left for the basic car operations.

Quite an interesting feature are the tiny screens attached to the air vents displaying the temperature and air flow level. There is a lot of legroom at the back and even the tallest NBA players wouldn’t have a problem stretching their legs after the game. The compulsory glass roof is split into two rather large panes.

The Niutron NV comes with its own ADAS system capable of delivering 24 advanced functions. The all-electric version comes with two electric motors and AWD system with 280 kW of power and 452 Nm of torque. There are two versions of the battery powered Niutron NV - standard-range with 440 km and long-range with 560 km of CLTC cruising range.

Production has already started at the Niutron’s manufacturing plant in Changzhou, about 200 km from Shanghai. The factory has a capacity of 180,000 units per year and if the ramp up goes as smoothly as everything else went for the company so far, China will have another electric competitor in the very busy and very popular SUV sector.

Source (in Chinese)