Great Wall designing a platform for high-end AWD hybrids

Great Wall Group has confirmed that it was working on an ‘innovative and highly efficient’ car architecture dubbed the Hi4. It supports part-electric powertrains rated up to 460 PS (454 hp / 338 kW) and enables ‘surgically precise torque vectoring’. The first car based on it is slated for premiere next month.

The platform supports up to three power units at once – meaning an internal combustion engine and two electric motors. The engine specifications are not given, but the corporation calls its heat efficiency of 41.5% ‘industry-best’. Smart power management reportedly makes it 8% more conservative than standard hybrids.

Thanks to new batteries, even entry-level models based on the new architecture should have over 100 km (62 miles) of all-electric range. Charging the battery from 30 to 80 percent takes ‘less than half an hour’.

New accelerometers enable the vehicle to distribute the torque as needed within mere milliseconds, be it between the axles or between the rear wheels driven by electric motors.

The Hi4 platform will provide the basis for a variety of cars ranging from A-Class to C-class. The pioneering model set for April debut is still not officially named, but the photo accompanying the announcement depicts what we know thanks to patent shots as the Haval B07.