Dongfeng Motor’s Voyah Free – Is it a Contender in China’s EV Race?
With the Chinese government pushing for the development of the electric vehicle industry, there is a never-ending stream of brands launching EVs as well as new EV brands emerging. This week I’d like to highlight the newly launched Voyah Free SUV. (It seems like China can’t get enough of SUVs either!)
The Voyah brand was created under its parent company Dongfeng Motor in 2018. At the 2020 Beijing International Auto Show, Voyah officially debuted its iFree concept car. By December, the company officially announced that the iFree concept car will be put into mass production, and changed its name from iFree to Free. I guess by December adding the letter “i” in front of things was no longer cool.
Voyah Free Specs
The Voyah Free officially launched on June 19th and is the brand’s flagship model. It is based on Dongfeng’s Electric Smart Secure Architecture (ESSA) platform. This allows the company to use the same chassis components between models in the future. A combination of front double wishbones and rear multi-links air suspension are standard on the top trim level. An all-aluminum subframe ties the suspension to the unibody.
The Voyah Free has a range of 534 miles (860km) when equipped with the C15TDR series 1.5 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder range extender engine designed and manufactured by Dongfeng Motors. The engine does not directly connect to the drivetrain, it only kicks on when battery level is low. With a whopping 670 horsepower and 734-foot pounds of torque, the Voyah Free can propel itself from 0-60 in about 4.6s and tops out at 125 miles per hour (200km/h).
Voyah Free Interior
The interior has the “standard Chinese style” screen stretching from pillar to pillar. I say standard because I have seen a surprising amount of new EVs in China coming out with this feature. The decision to have a full screen comes from the fact that most EVs currently sold in China are full autonomous driving capable, the only thing that is holding it back is the software. In the future when the software improves, the screens are there to keep both driver and passengers entertained.
Can it Compete?
Overall, the Voyah Free is a well-packaged family SUV that’s faster than your average sports car. However, with countless competitors, there’s not much about the brand or the vehicle that stands out and it may be hard for it to make moves against the big three: NIO, Li Auto, and Xpeng.
The Free has already garnered decent attention, with a couple thousand search results on Xiaohongshu, but most of the posts are either from the auto related accounts and influencers, not the general public. It appears the brand has its work cut out for it when it comes to driving awareness and building its brand image. It has only just officially gone on sale, so it will be interesting to watch how the brand develops over the next few months.
Maybe the $50k price tag can win over some buyers? We’ll have to wait and see.
