The Aito M7 SUV co-designed between car manufacturer Seres and IT giant Huawei has passed its mandatory pre-production safety tests in China, showing rather underwhelming results across the board.
The crash test was performed at 64 km/h (40 mph) with an overlap of 25 percent, leaving the driver’s door frame deformed and pushing the a-pillar far into the cabin. The test crew pointed out that the procedure normally involves a more forgiving overlap ratio of 40 percent, but even so, the result looked bleak for drivers who could get seriously injured during an incident. In the end, the car received an ‘Average’ rating for the crash safety.
It then proceeded to score ‘Excellent’ for active safety measures, pedestrian protection and passenger safety. More ‘averages’ followed for the repairability and fuel efficiency, the latter rather unusual for a hybrid car.
The testing team concluded that they expected better results from a premium car priced from 300,000 Chinese Yuan.
The Aito M7 is a crossover SUV over five meters long with 2.8 meters between the axles. Its 1.5-liter turbocharged engine functions as a power generator for the main electric drivetrain. Buyers can choose between one and two electric motors. The dual-motor setup needs 4.8 seconds for a sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) and has up to 1,000 km (621 miles) of driving range with the battery and the gas tank full.