A Weiwang 407 EV, seen at sunset in the far east of Beijing in early 2020. The Weiwang 407 EV is an electric minivan with an aerodynamic body. Design is very nice, with a black ‘grille, secondary lights on each side of the grille, and the real headlights in the bumper.
The Weiwang brand was launched in 2011. It was owned by Beiqi Yinxiang Automobile, itself a joint venture between BAIC and the Yinxiang Motorcycle Group. However, after years of restructuring Weiwang was effectively morphed fully into BAIC, and BAIC then moved the Weiwang brand under its subsidiary Changhe Auto. The official manufacturer of the Weiwang 407 was Beiqi Changhe. Beiqi is short for Beijing Auto, itself short for Beijing Auto Industry Corporation, or BAIC.
The Weiwang 407 EV was launched in 2018, priced at 109.800 yuan. Just one year later, again due to ongoing restructuring at BAIC, is was renamed Beiqi EV5. Manufacturer is still Beiqi Changhe. So the Weiwang 407 EV was marketed for only one year, making it a very rare minivan indeed.
The 407 EV is dressed up with blue detailing. In China, blue is the common color for new energy vehicles. Hence, many EVs and PHEVs have blue detailing and badges.
Weiwang fitted the largest rear lights they could find! The volume of the load bay is 4.5 cubic meters and the max load is 0.81 ton. Power comes from a single electric motor with 41 hp and 105 Nm. The motor is mated to a 43 kWh battery pack, good for a NEDC range of 220 km/h. Top speed was 80 km/h.
Sadly, in all the excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the interior, so I grabbed one off Changhe’s website. The interior was quite nice for the segment and for the money, with an 8-inch screen for the infotainment, a semi-digital instrument cluster, and oval-shaped air vents. There is gray and blue trim, and the drive selector sits on the center tunnel. The hand brake was old-school, and it was oddly placed, on the right side of the tunnel, closer to the passenger than to the driver.
Characters: 北京集团, Beiqi Jituan, or BAIC Group.
The gray-blue EV badge was developed by the Chinese government to promote electric cars. All manufacturers of electric vehicles could use it on their cars but it wasn’t mandatory. The characters are: 电动汽车, diandong qiche, electric car.
The green Beijing license plate was especially for EVs and PHEVs. It allowed owners to various perks including cheap charging and even free parking in some areas. The Weiwang 407 EV was a good looking and useful vehicle. Too bad it didn’t work out. Happily, there are many other automakers that make similar vehicles nowadays but the don’t look as cool as the Weiwang.
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