Should SA get it? New Haval Xianglong details uncovered

Anticipated to go on-sale in China later this year, the People’s Republic’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released first images and details of Haval’s latest SUV, the Xianglong.

That name

Known internally as the B26, and taking its name, although not confirmed directly by Haval or its parent company Great Wall Motors (GWM), from the Mandarin word for flying lizard, the Xianglong has a not dissimilar appearance to the original Big Dog that debuted three years ago.

Supposed to form part of Haval’s “Dragon” named range of SUVs, the Xianglong sports the same frontal design as the Big Dog and directly from some angles, the Land Rover Defender, but down the side, loses the curved shoulder lines above the doors for flatter design while carrying over the black wheel arch cladding.

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Along with the C and D-pillars being different from the Big Dog, in addition to its boxier styling, the Xianglong’s main difference is it’s rear facia that sports a new side-hinged tailgate and light clusters, plus an affixed spare wheel, a new bumper and chunkier handle for the tailgate itself.

According to carnewschina.com who uncovered the images from the application documents presented to the ministry, the Xianglong measures 4 800 mm long, 1 822 mm wide and 1 916 mm tall while riding on a wheelbase stretching 2 738 mm.

Lemon hybrid?

While still to be confirmed, the newcomer could become the latest model to ride on Haval’s somewhat oddly named Lemon platform, which provides the foundation for among others, the hugely popular Jolion in South Africa.

Despite no images of the interior being revealed, which could potentially be influenced by that of the Tank 300, the submitted documents did disclose technical details of GWM’s Hi-4 or Hybrid Intelligent Four-Wheel-Drive system.

In effect a plug-in hybrid configuration, the first involves a 1.5-litre petrol engine being combined with a 70 kW electric motor on the rear axle and 150 kW unit on the rear. A final output figure wasn’t disclosed.

The same applies to the second option that carries over the rear electric module, but adds 10 kW to the frontal unit and a turbocharger to the internal combustion engine.

In both cases, a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT), similar to the hybrid Jolion HEV, is entrusted with sending the amount of power to the relative drive wheels.

Reportedly, the claimed all-electric range is 105 km, although the report doesn’t specify whether this applies to the turbocharged model or the normally aspirated derivative.

More to come

For now, the Xianglong remains a China model with pricing only expected once sales commence in the second half of this year.

Although little else is known about its possibly coming to South Africa as wasn’t mentioned during the recent Shanghai Auto Expo, don’t be surprised if an announcement emerges within the coming months.

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