680-Mile Range Neta S Caught Testing in China
There seems to be a new EV carmaker coming out of China every time I look, but today’s attention-grabber is something else. Built by Hozon Auto, the upcoming Neta S luxury sedan seen here is hoping to challenge the electric big dogs with 440 miles of range for its BEV, and nearly 700 miles of range from its range-extended (REX) model.
The sporty Neta S sedan was first shown at the 2021 Shanghai Auto show as a concept, but a nearly production-ready version was caught testing by Chinese car blog, XCar , who also happened to catch shots of the car’s interior.
Google Translate did its best, I think, but beyond some seemingly positive remarks about the production interior being true to the spirit of the concept rendering (below), I couldn’t get too far. Here’s the original link, if you’re curious.
What you might be more curious about is the Neta S, itself. Hozon Auto is claiming the pure electric version will deliver 462 hp and 440+ lb-ft of torque. Good enough to get the sedan from 0-62 mph (100 km) in well under 5 seconds. It’s no Tesla Model S Plaid, then – but hardly slow, and the promised 710 km of range (about 440 miles) is nothing to sneeze at, either. What’s more, that range jumps up to 1100 km (more than 680 miles), thanks to a slippery 0.23 Cd and an onboard range extender. And, sure, that makes that version the Neta S more of a PHEV, but some of the Chevy Volt guys are still in denial that their car was actually a hybrid (check the comments), and if that’s an EV, so is this.
Regardless, both versions of the Neta S are expected to feature Hozon’s L4 driving system, which is being called “fully autonomous” by its makers, and backed up by 32 different sensors (2 being lidar). That sounds like a missed opportunity, frankly, because a 450+ HP all-electric sport sedan with a double wishbone front suspension and 5-link setup at the rear sounds like a blast to drive.
It’s hard to know, from here, what kind of build quality and reliability the Hozon Auto-built car will offer buyers when it finally begins production later this month. With deliveries slated to begin in Q4 of 2022, however, we won’t have to wait too long to find out. In the meantime, head on down to the comments and let us know whether you think the Neta S will be delivered to buyers before the Tesla Cybertruck. Enjoy!
Source | Images: XCar, via CarNewsChina.
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