SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) brand and communication GM Zhou Yan has confirmed Wuling is working on the electric Kei car. It was previously spotted in China during road tests as a large Wuling Hongugang Mini EV sibling.
Wuling is one of the most popular domestic brands in China. It sold around 490,000 units in the first eight months of 2024. Over 25% of this sales volume is occupied by the Hongguang Mini EV electric city car (see specs). This model also was the bestselling Chinese car in 2021 and 2022.
However, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV’s sales volume started to decline. The Price War and governmental old car replacement subsidy caused this trend. As a result, Chinese people started to prefer more high-end models. Wuling needed to keep up with the customer’s agenda. They’ve started working on a larger variant of the Hongguang Mini EV. It was previously referred to as Wuling’s Kei car.
Wuling Kei car confirmed
In early October, spy photos of the Wuling test car emerged online. It was partly covered with camouflage. However, we at CarNewsChina highlighted that the test car’s headlamps are in line with the latest Hongguang Mini EV Macaron. According to industry insiders, the internal name of the spotted car is CE110M.
Later, SGMW brand and communication general manager Zhou Yan confirmed Wuling is working on the Kei car on Chinese Weibo social media. He said that the electric K-car has great potential as it can be used for both domestic and commercial purposes.
It is worth mentioning that Kei cars aren’t popular in China. Previously, CarNewsChina reported that a similar vehicle such as BAIC Changhe Beidouxing sold less than 1,000 units in H1 2022. However, Zhou Yan explained that traditional petrol-powered Kei cars have poor potential in China because of weak and noisy powertrains. But their BEV analogs can become popular.
Back in 2020, Wuling became a trendsetter in China by launching the Hongguang Mini EV city car. Its unexpected success inspired manufacturers to make its competitors like Changan Lumin, Chery QQ Ice Cream, Geely Geome Panda mini, etc. It seems they are up to take a risk and try to repeat the story.
More on Wuling Kei car
The Wuling CE110M has a boxy shape, rear sliding doors, a high beltline, and vertical taillight units. It is seemingly bigger than the Hongguang Mini EV. Other features of the car are conventional door handles, small steel wheels, and tine side-view mirrors.
The Wuling CE110M most likely stands on the Tianyu M modular architecture. The same platform underpins the recently launched Wuling Bingo SUV. The Tianyu M architecture is suitable for electric cars with a body length of 3500 – 4600 mm. In this case, the CE110M Kei car can be equipped with a 75 kW (100 hp) battery and a 50.6 kWh battery pack for up to 510 km range.
