I Visited GM’s Chinese Joint Venture And Saw All The Weird And Wonderful EVs

SGMW is short for SAIC-GM-Wuling (上汽通用五菱), a three-way joint venture between SAIC, General Motors, and Wuling (which means Five Diamonds) Auto. The joint venture was founded in 2002, when Wuling was offering a series of basic minivans and minibusses that were popular in smaller cities and the countryside. GM, already partnered with SAIC, saw an opportunity to improve the Wuling vans and be profitable in the segment, and so SGMW was born. 

Initially, the Wuling vehicles were improved using GM technology and parts, and the brand stuck to the van segment. But when China’s car market started to boom, SGMW added passenger cars to the lineup starting with a line of affordable multipurpose vehicles based on minibusses, which sold very well. And so, you might expect me to tell you SGMW pumped more money and resources into the Wuling brand. But no: when a brand sells well in China, the brand’s owner launches another brand. That makes as much sense as it sounds, but it’s what seemingly every Chinese automaker does. And so, SGMW launched the Baojun (Precious Horse, 宝骏) brand in 2010. 

Baojun offered affordable cars based on older SAIC-GM platforms. The first car was the Baojun Leiche, a rebadged variant of the Chevrolet Leiche, which was a variant of the Chevrolet Spark, which was based on the Daewoo Matiz. Afterwards, Baojun launched a whole range of affordable passenger cars, including a wagon. For a while, things were clear: Wuling made minivans, minibusses, and basic MPVs; Baojun made basic passenger cars. 

But with the ever-growing car market, things got more complicated. Wuling added SUVs to its lineup, and Baojun went more upmarket. With the EV boom, all structure was lost. Both Wuling and Baojun started to roll out affordable EVs. At the same time, they kept expanding their fuel-burning lineup, adding more expensive cars and adding a bunch of PHEVs in the process. Simultaneously, Wuling began to electrify their original minivans and minibusses, and they added a series of new dedicated electric delivery vans. And that is where we are now. I visited a large SGMW dealer in south Beijing, not far from my father-in-law’s place. At the entrance, there was a lineup of everything. Then, the Wuling ICE minivans and minibusses were displayed on an outside field. The Wuling ICE/PHEV SUVs and MPVs were displayed in a building. The Baojin and Wuling EV passenger cars were displayed in another building – enough vehicles to fill a book. So for this story, I’ll focus on the EVs.  

The main building had Baojun and Wuling names on the wall, but that was wrong, as there were only Wulings inside. The small shed on the left is a guard post, but no one was inside. It’s probably only manned at night.

Baojun E100

This pink-purple beauty was just behind the gate. Amazingly, it is an old Baojun electric car. Time flies in China! The Baojun E100 is a two-seat electric minicar that looked like nothing else on the market when it arrived in 2017. It was a tad too special, perhaps, and initial sales were slow. I always thought it looked brilliant with its black cladding over the wheel arches, roof rails, and a charging port right in the middle of the grille. The E100 was manufactured through 2020 and delivered 29 kW of power, good for a 100 km/h (62 mph) top speed and was available with various battery packs. The largest offered 28 kWh of capacity for a range of 305 km (189 miles). Pretty impressive packaging!

Need a compact SUV? Wuling got you. The brand sells six models that are share similar sizing, motors, and pricing. I arrived early in the morning, so there wasn’t much happening. A clerk sat behind a desk, checking her phone. She acknowledged my existence and let me be.

Here’s a display for the new Wuling Bingo EV hatchback. But there were no EVs in that building! I asked the clerk about it, and she explained we were in what was once the only showroom, displaying ICE, PHEV, and EV models. But corporate wanted a separate shop for the EVs, so the dealer built a new building nearby. That was only a few months ago, hence the messy names. That can happen to anyone! Busy busy, all those different cars, moving them around between buildings. Not easy.

Wuling Victory

This is the fanciest fuel-burning Wuling, the Victory. It’s a compact front-wheel drive SUV with six seats. The car above is a 2.0 PHEV, Premium trim level, in Jade Cold Purple. It combines a 2.0 liter engine with one electric motor, good for a combined output of 130 kW (174 horsepower) and 320 Nm (236 ft-lb). The gearbox is a one-speed Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT). Many Chinese carmakers offer advanced DHT gearboxes in PHEVs, but most are 3-speed units; single-speed boxes are rare.  The Wuling Victory 2.0 PHEV Premium costs $19,700.

I could see the other building behind the potted plants. Time to check some EVs!

The building was new all right, but it only had the Wuling name even though there were Wuling and Baojun cars inside. Perhaps they forgot to add the Baojun name.

The showroom was spacious inside, with enough space for ten more cars. I guess the dealer knows what’s coming. The ceiling was low and the windows were all glass. Fortunately I was early, otherwise it would have been an overheated greenhouse in there. It’s usually around 36 degrees Celsius (97 F) in summer in Beijing.

Baojun KiWi EV

This is not a concept car or some movie prop. This is a real car. You can buy one in China and drive it on public roads, go to places, and visit friends. They will look a little surprised at your new wheels – but not too surprised. This is China amid an EV revolution. There are a lot of weird revolutionary cars on the road. But the Baojun KiWi EV is a tad weirder than most. It seems like the cabin was dropped onto the chassis, and this is emphasized by the dual-color Twilight paint the placement of the lights and “grille” immediately under the windshield. “EV” is part of the name, so the car is officially the “Baojun KiWi EV EV.” It has KiWi and Baojun branding. Because of that, some well-informed analysts suspect that Baojun is readying a KiWi sub-brand. Makes sense, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

The interior is cool too, albeit a bit gray. The KiWi EV is a rear-wheel drive car. Buyers can choose between two electric motors: 40 kW/150 Nm (110.6 ft-lb) and 50 kW/150 Nm. Why bother, one may wonder, 10 kW more and torque is the same. The top speed is 105 and 115 km/h respectively. It is important to know that these mini-cars are not LSEVs. The KiWi EV is a full-fledged automobile, allowed on the highway and everywhere else. The maximum range is 305 kilometers (189 miles). 

Like most electric mini cars, the Baojun KiWi is aimed mainly at young women and depicts customers as unmarried, living in a big city, and working in marketing or other hip professions. The KiWi has virtual digital assistant named Lil KiWi who “lives” in the infotainment system. On SGMW’s website, Baojun advertises Lil KiWi’s most important function: Parking Genius, which is fully automatic parking. Handy!

A behind to behold. The indicators and brake lights are on the sides of the window. The characters on the left spell SAIC-GM-Wuling, 上汽通用五菱. The KiWi EV sells for $10,500 to $14,300.

Wuling Bingo

The Bingo is mainly aimed at slightly older buyers, primarily women, and at young couples yet without kids. Wuling has launched several options and packages to cater to this clientele. Recently, Wuling launched a Mickey Dream package, with Mickey Mouse stickers and red wheels. Buyers can also go for soft colors like Dawn Pink or Shallow Green. This Bingo is painted in Latte White, a color that perfectly suits the target audience. 

I shrink to a grain of sand in the sunshine of her Bingo-ness. And she knows it! She got a guitar, three retro photo cameras, five books, a yoga cushion, and two pots with water plants. What kind of fella might she possibly date? Well, Wuling has him covered too:

There he is, loading flowers into his Breezy Blue Bingo. I could talk for hours about fuzzy marketing by Chinese car brands. It’s a lot of fun. Some stuff is genius, a lot is same-old boring, another lot is a little weird, and some of the marketing is completely mad. That’s for another story, perhaps – on with the Bingo. It is a front-wheel drive car, and buyers can choose between two motors: 30 kW/110 Nm and 50 kW/150 Nm. Top speed is 100 and 120 km/h respectively (62/74 mph). Wuling offers three batteries (17.3 kWh, 31.9 kWh, and 37.9 kWh) to achieve 203, 333, and 410 km of range (or 126, 207, and 254 miles). So many choices! SGMW is a bit old-school in this matter, as most new EV companies offer fewer variants.

The interior is classy, with brown imitation leather and beige trim on the seats, doors, and dashboard and shiny silver accents. An interesting combination of colors, as always. There are two steering-wheel trends in China’s EV market: first, the weirder the better, with yokes, half-yokes, square-shapes, ovals, and more. The other trend is traditional round wheels, with a large diameter. Round wheels can be further divided into two grip-area thickness camps: modern, “normal” cross sections, and skinny 1950s-style designs.

Amazingly, the Wuling Bingo is cheaper than the Baojun KiWi EV. The base model costs only 57.800 yuan ($8,400) and the fully loaded variant sells for 88.800 yuan ($12,500). Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture, associated with wealth and success. Prices for expensive stuff, like cars, household appliances, and smartphones, often have several eights in the quotation.

Wuling Mini EV

This is the famous Wuling Mini EV, China’s best-selling mini EV. The car in the photo is a Macaron Edition, named after the sweet French cookie. It has Macaron badges and special wheels, and it comes in soft-tone colors only. This one is Advocado Green. Wuling offers fifteen colors in total for the Mini EV, which is a lot for China. ‘EV’ is part of the name, so it’s the “Wuling Mini EV EV.”

The Mini EV is a basic rear-wheel drive electric vehicle with a 2+2 seat layout. The interior is basic, with seats as flat as Beijing and a mechanical parking brake. These things still exist, and many cheap Chinese electric cars have mechanical parking brakes, though this one looks kind of weird in an otherwise modern vehicle. The door handle is located all the way to the left of the door, as if has suicide doors, but it hasn’t. There’s a lot of black plastic, but there is are cool details too – note the shape of the air vents and the tiny island between the seats for the power window switches and drive selector.

The official list price of the Wuling Mini EV Macaron Edition is 49.800 yuan ($7,000). However, at the time I was in Beijing, an updated version of the Macaron was set to launch, so the dealer price for this very car was only 29.800 yuan ($4,200)! That’s a good deal. In China, you can always buy the car on display if you don’t feel like waiting a few weeks. The Macaron Edition is powered by a 20 kW/85 Nm (63 ft-lb) electric motor, and top speed is 100 km/h (62 mph). Again, this ain’t no LSEV but a real motorcar. It’s allowed to hit the highway, but with 12-inch wheels, that doesn’t seem a very safe thing to do. But then again, who cares about safety in China? Don’t think, just go – that’s the motto.

Baojun Yunduo

The star of the shop was the new Baojun Yunduo, the largest Baojun-branded passenger car so far. The Yunduo is marketed as a family car for young families, with enough space for two kids. This Smokey Cloud Green example was displayed on a fake-green grass mat, held together with green duct tape. The supersized ribbon is commonly used by dealers on newly-launched cars so that visitors know they’re looking at the latest model. The Yunduo is a mix between a hatchback, a crossover, and a compact MPV. The design is unique, bulbous even, with rounded corners, a large greenhouse, pop-out door handles and aero wheels.

Now this is a family-friendly dealership. There’s a tent with a rocking horse and pillows, and a fake-flower-festooned stairway leading inexplicably to three silver balls. How lovely. I am sure any modern young Chinese family would feel immediately at home.

The interior of the Yunduo is brilliant. It combines white padded seats with green, gold, and wood trim. It sort of works? The two-spoke, flat-bottom wheel is wrapped in fake leather, and the cup holder situation is interesting. There are five cup holders for the front seats, with a large one on each side of the dashboard and three smaller ones in the center tunnel.

The Yunduo is only 4.3 meters long (14 feet) but it has a 2.7-meter (8.9′) wheelbase, and that translates to a spacious back seat. The speakers are finished in gold-colored metal with the seat bases finished in the same green color as the sides. Baojun put a lot of effort into the details for this one.

Baojun offers the Yunduo in six trim levels. The car on display is a Yunduo 460 Max, with a price of 123.800 yuan ($17,200). It is a front-wheel drive car, with just one motor available, with 100 kW and 200 Nm (147 ft-lb), for a 200 km/h (124 mph) top speed, making it the fastest Baojun ever. Buyers can choose between two batteries: 37.9 kWh for 360 kilometers range or 50.6 kWh and 460 kilometers between charges, which works out to 224 and 286 miles.

Baojun Yep

All the previous cars are cool, but even all together they are less cool than this: the Baojun Yep. It’s fantastic. The Baojun Yep is what the Suzuki Jimny should have been. It’s a small electric SUV that looks ready for serious off-road action, with big black bumpers, wide wheel arches, sidebars, roof rails, and a power bulge on the hood. The headlights and daytime running lights are in one unit, flanking a black “grille” with the Baojun logo in the middle. The Chinese name of the Yep is 悦也, Yueye, which could be translated as “Also Joy.” Hopefully it makes you feel joy, also.

This Yep is finished in Sunrise paint and fitted with an optional roof rack, side tent and a ladder. It’s a single-motor rear-wheel drive car. Output is 50 kW and 140 Nm (102 ft-lb), good for 100 km/h (62 mph). Electricity is stored in a 28.1 kWh LFP battery for 303 kilometers of range, or 188 miles. Not 300. Not 305. Nope. 303! The Yep seems large but it is a small machine at 338 centimeters (11 feet) long. It is relatively light too, with a curb weight of 1,006 kilos or 2,218 pounds. Baojun is developing a 5-door version, which will be called the Yep Plus, to be launched in by the end of the year.

The interior is a tad boring compared to the exterior, especially in this gray-black color scheme. There is a large-diameter steering wheel and a twin-10.25-inch screen.

Note the subtle spoiler above the rear window. The Yep is popular among female buyers, and you can see a potential customer checking out the car above. Interestingly, the Suzuki Jimny is also a favorite of lady drivers here. The Jimny was not made locally, it was imported from Japan and thus expensive. It isn’t available in China anymore – too stinky for the current emission limits.

In the winter of 2019/2020, I was in Beijing for business for a few months, just before Covid hit. I had donated my Beijing Jeep Cherokee XJ to a museum, so I borrowed a Suzuki Jimny from a lady friend of my wife. I thought it was an odd car, incredibly cramped and noisy inside, slow as hell, but capable off-road. When I used the Jimny to check out a muddy, snowy scrapyard on the far side of town, the little 4X4 went up and over everything.

Assorted Outside Cars

I stayed inside for over an hour. The staff kindly answered my questions and let me be. That is a very nice thing about China: you can walk into any dealer, stay as long as you like, open every door, take photos, use the toilet, hang around doing nothing, grab some water … and the staff will happily let you linger. With so many cars on the market, consumers have a huge appetite for information. There are thousands of social media channels and websites about cars. So at any time, you can find vloggers in Chinese dealerships, streaming live to their fans, chatting about cars and prices. They don’t need to make an appointment or whatever, just walk in and do the thing – just like I did.

This KiWi EV suddenly looks very classy in shiny metallic Emerald Green.

Here’s the Yunduo minus its pink ribbon.

This is a Wuling Jiachen, a compact MPV powered by a 1.5L turbo, standing next to a fire-equipment base. These are government-mandated for any semi-public open space in China. You can find them in parks, in temples, schools, and markets. It always looks like this: painted in bright red, with buckets, spades, axes, and a first-aid kit. The axes are not secured, anyone can grab one and start chopping stuff up.

This is the brilliant E10, one of Wuling’s wacky new electric vans, a last-mile delivery vehicle. Check out the big square headlights and steel wheels. It has a 27 hp motor and a 71 km/h top speed (44 mph).

It’s a single-person vehicle with the driver’s seat in the center and a single windshield wiper. I want one in Dawn Pink.

Wuling sells all sorts of variants of the E10. This one is the box truck, with a door on the right side. The reflective 3M tape is obligatory on any commercial vehicle under Chinese law. The max load is 215 kilos (474 pounds), and this E10 costs only $5,100.

This is the outside area, with the vans, buses, and older MPVs parked on artificial grass. There were also a few second-hand cars and a couple of wrecks. The white car in the photo is the Minivan, that’s the name. So it’s the “Wuling Minivan minivan.” It was originally a commercial vehicle that was morphed into a passenger car. Wuling even sells a camper-van version:

And finally, a Wuling Rongguang, a compact single-cab pickup truck with a long bed and dual rear wheels. It’s available with various gasoline engines and there’s an EV version too, but I didn’t see one at this dealer. The base ICE version only costs $5,500. The Rongguang is an extremely popular workhorse and they’re all over the place, carrying everything everywhere.

A panda flowerpot, an old traffic cone, a Wuling-branded charger, and a tree 3M-taped for visibility. It worked – the tree looked fine. And so it was time to go. It was an interesting visit, with friendly folks and lots of cool cars. SGMW seems to be doing well. The brand is wacky in a good way, trying all sorts of new designs and novel ideas. More Chinese cars soon!