New Avatr 07L takes the fight to Xiaomi with silicon carbide and cybernetics

The pace of the Chinese electric vehicle arms race is relentless. The moment a brand has settled into its rhythm, it pulls out the drafting paper and drops a fresh design directly onto the showroom floor. Case in point: Avatr. The joint effort between Changan Automobile, tech powerhouse Huawei, and battery titan CATL isn't letting rival tech-darlings steal all the spotlight.

The Avatr 07L is a stretched version of the 07, five-seat SUV created to square up against rivals like the Xiaomi YU7. If you watched the pre-sales chatter back in July, you might have expected the lineup to start much higher, but in a move that feels equal parts clever market positioning and panic, Avatr sneaked in a brand-new entry-level Elite all-electric model at launch.

That version sliced RMB 20,000 off the barrier to entry, bringing the starting sticker price down to RMB 229,900 (roughly $33,860), with limited-time launch incentives shaving it further to {{RMB 219,900}}. Upper tiers - the Max+ at RMB 249,900 and the absurd tri-motor Ultra at RMB 279,900 - held their pre-sale ground. It is a big price pivot designed to lure middle-class family buyers away from established electric crossovers.

Where the "L" badge pays its biggest dividends is in real estate - at 193.3 inches long, 78 inches wide, and 65 inches tall (with the air-suspended Ultra standing slightly taller at 65.7 inches), the 07L adds 3.35 inches in overall length over the standard Avatr 07 crossover.

1.97 inches of that extra length sits between the axles, stretching the wheelbase to 117.7 inches. That puts the 07L in mid-size luxury territory, dwarfing family benchmarks like the Tesla Model Y and giving rear-seat passengers genuine leg-stretching room. Cargo capacity grows to 26 ft³ behind the rear seats, ballooning to 58.1 ft³ when folded flat, and a practical 3.53 ft³ frunk up front is perfect for charging cables and shopping.

Naturally, no modern Chinese EV launch is complete without some excessive powertrain figures. For the sensible motorist, the single-motor rear-wheel-drive Elite and Max+ variants deliver 305 kW (409 horsepower) - enough to punt this sizeable SUV from a standstill to 62 mph in 5.9 seconds. But if you insist that's not enough, the Ultra version brings a tri-motor setup with combined output of 712 kW and a bone-crushing 735 lb-ft of torque. That slashes the zero-to-100 sprint down to 3.7 seconds - a figure that would make supercar royalty from a decade ago scratch their heads in disbelief.

Backing up all those ponies is serious battery hardware. Every trim of the 07L comes equipped with CATL's 89.33 kWh Shenxing battery pack supporting 5C ultra-fast charging. Tying it all together is a cutting-edge 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform. On paper, single-motor models claim a CLTC range of up to 450 miles, while the hungry tri-motor Ultra still manages a respectable 404 miles.

More impressive than the range, though, is the charging curve: plug into a compatible high-power DC station and you can juice the battery from 30% to 80% in less than 10 minutes, or execute a 0 to 80% sweep in 20 minutes flat. That is fast enough to make standard highway coffee breaks feel painfully drawn out.

Avatr really flexes its tech muscles through its Huawei partnership. All versions of the 07L come with Huawei's Qiankun ADS 5 suite and HarmonySpace digital cockpit. Pay up for the Max+ or Ultra, and you get the ADS Max system, headlined by a roof-mounted 896-channel LiDAR sensor. Avatr cheekily claims this is the highest-spec LiDAR sensor in mass production, capable of detecting objects just 14 cm tall from 394 ft away.

Inside, the cabin is a full-on high-tech lounge. A 35.4-inch 4K panoramic display spans the upper dash, complemented by a central 15.6-inch infotainment screen. The front passenger gets a zero-gravity recliner with dual 120-degree semi-reclining positions - perfect for napping while that CATL pack gets topped up.

To keep the ride plush, the higher trims swap conventional steel springs for smart closed air suspension and continuous damping control (what Avatr calls its "magic carpet" setup). It glides over tarmac imperfections with uncanny smoothness, isolating the cabin from the harsh reality of urban roadwork.

The 07L carries a lot of weight on its shoulders. Avatr managed 35,250 sales across the first seven months of the year - averaging around 5,040 units per month. While solid, those numbers still lag behind runaway Chinese EV startups, making a high-volume hit crucial. The timing is critical as Avatr refiles its Hong Kong initial public offering application following the expiration of its late-2025 prospectus.

Via