The Chery Omoda 7 has just been unveiled at the carmaker’s hometown in Wuhu, China. As a bigger brother to the popular Omoda 5, it is described as a sporty coupe SUV with wide ranging appeal. It combines three key design pillars: dynamic, avant-garde and futuristic.
It’s certainly a striking looking SUV. The shark nose with borderless parametric grille looks to be inspired by the Lexus RX, as are the general sharp angles seen all around. Look closely and the front corners and you’ll see a repeating hexagonal pattern that can light up, as part of the “digital pixel design detail.”
The Omoda 7 rides on large 20-inch dual-tone alloys, while the wheel arch liners have a distinctive pattern on them. Suprisingly enough, the doorhandles are traditional pull-up items instead of self-presenting pop-out designs favoured by a majority of new cars coming out of China recently.
Round the back, the coupe-like roofline does lend it a bit of a Range Rover Velar vibe, although the windowline with a prominent kink over the rear fender matches that of the Omoda 5, creating a neat family look of its own. The taillights have what’s called an electric energy design – a series of connecting arrows that form a lightning bolt.
Size wise the Omoda 7 measures 4,621 mm long, 1,872 mm wide and 1,673 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,700 mm. That’s considerably larger than the Omoda 5 (4,400 mm long, 1,830 mm wide, 1,588 mm tall, 2,630 mm wheelbase) in every way, and is much closer to the Honda CR-V (4,694 mm long, 1,865 mm wide, 1,681 mm tall, 2,700 mm wheelbase).
Inside is where it gets really interesting, as it features gaming-style elements. The steering wheel, for instance, is said to be inspired by a PlayStation 5 controller – easy to control, “maximising the playful experience” – while the front seats were modelled after gaming seats (which ironically were made to mimic car seats to begin with). Fancy stitching, nubuck leather and quilting add on to the sporty look and feel.
Meanwhile, the 15.6-inch centre touchscreen can actually slide to be positioned right in front of the passenger, to provide a more comfortable viewing angle on the move. The “space orbit sliding smart screen” – with 2.5K resolution and 1,000 nit brightness – can be controlled via gesture, voice and button prompts.
Other interesting features include integrated air freshener pods that infuse the chosen fragrance into the air conditioning system (similar to the Air Balance option on high-end Mercedes-Benz models) and a 12+2 speaker Sony audio system. The latter adds on a pair of small surround speakers inside the driver’s headrest. There’s even an engine noise cancelling system for a quieter cabin!
Beyond that, the chassis (a stretched, reworked version of the Omoda 5 platform) has been upgraded with double hydraulic suspension and an advanced brake-by-wire system. As for ADAS, there’s no less than 18 features covering all the usual driving assist systems, plus a novel voice-activated lane change assist function.
Under the hood is a 1.5TGDi four-cylinder petrol engine, paired to a plug-in hybrid system. The engine itself is claimed to have the highest thermal efficiency in its class of 44.5%, while the battery pack can provide up to 95 km of pure-EV driving range. In hybrid mode it’s claimed to have a fuel consumption of 4.89 l/100 km, allowing a combined range of 1,250 km, at least in theory.
There will also be a pure-ICE version later, likely with a larger 1.6 litre four-cylinder petrol engine like in the Jaecoo J7. Surprisingly however, unlike the Omoda 5, there won’t be an EV version of the Omoda 7.
So folks, what do you think of the Omoda 7 – can it possibly be anywhere near as successful as the Omoda 5? Comment below!
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