In the era of new energy, traditional luxury brands have fallen from their pedestals, and Chinese electric vehicles have taken up the mantle. With a budget of just over 300,000, you can get a mid-to-large sedan that meets higher standards in appearance, intelligence, and handling stability—just like today's protagonist, the Avatr 12.
The overall design of the Avatr 12 differs from the calm, business-oriented style of traditional fuel-powered luxury cars. The new car adopts the same design language as the Avatr 11, with an overall design that is avant-garde, fashionable, and highly futuristic. The E-shaped light clusters, combined with rounded, full lines and a flattened logo, fit young people's aesthetics very well.
The addition of the HALO screen not only makes the entire vehicle look cooler but also adds a strong sense of ceremony. It contains 10,500 light beads and covers 8 interior and exterior scene modes, including pet mode, charging mode, pedestrian courtesy mode, temporary stop passenger pickup mode, welcome and farewell mode, sentry mode, holiday Easter eggs, and Autohold mode. It also has continuous OTA iteration capability, and custom modes will be pushed later.
The new car's dimensions are 5020mm*1450mm*1999mm, with a wheelbase exceeding 3m, a wheel-to-height ratio of 0.514, an aspect ratio of 1.38, and a wheelbase-to-length ratio of 0.602. The extreme coupe styling combined with the large fastback design at the rear makes the overall body proportions very full and full of futuristic feel. In addition, configurations such as 21-inch extra-large wheels and electronic exterior rearview mirrors also enhance the vehicle's sense of design and technological atmosphere.
The Avatr 12 innovatively creates a rear hatchback without a rear side window, achieving unique exterior recognition through highly forward-looking design and excellent streamlined feel. Coupled with alternative designs like electronic exterior rearview mirrors, it feels as if this is a car that has traveled from the future to the present.
However, this design is also highly controversial. Many people may not accept the design without a rear windshield, since it can affect driving safety to some extent. Although a streaming media rearview mirror is standard across the entire lineup, some female drivers are used to using the interior rearview mirror to put on makeup while waiting at red lights, and a traditional rearview mirror can satisfy this special need.
For electronic rearview mirrors, even experienced drivers need a long adaptation period. After all, after decades of driving, the eyes have formed muscle memory for the visual angle of traditional rearview mirrors, and there is certainly a certain difference between the visual angle of electronic rearview mirrors and traditional ones. Therefore, whether design leads car ownership life or is led by it ultimately depends on users and time.
Indeed, the Avatr 12's minimalist design concept reduces the number of physical buttons, retaining only buttons with high daily usage rates. Visually, it subtracts and greatly saves interior space. The overall feeling is the same as the exterior—full of futuristic feel. With the support of flexible invisible technology, the 35.4-inch 4K screen blends into the interior, achieving seamless interaction from a technical perspective. In addition, from the door to the B-pillar and then to the second row, so-called parametric design is used throughout, simulating sculptural lines and shapes and highlighting a avant-garde technological design style.
The central control screen uses the same Harmony OS 4 Hongmeng infotainment system as the Avatr 11. Huawei phone users say there is no learning curve. It is equipped with the latest 14nm Kirin 9610A solution, and the operating system is impressive in both smoothness and usability.
In terms of touch and hearing, the Avatr 12 is equipped with 27 speakers and adopts a 7.1.4 immersive panoramic sound field created by tuning masters. Combined with the front double-layer laminated glass configuration, the vehicle's NVH performance also reaches a high level. The sense of touch is mainly reflected in the seat's skin-friendly material and seating posture. In addition to common heating, ventilation, massage, and 16-way power adjustment functions, the seats also support a dual 120-degree cloud reclining posture.
The new car's seats use Nappa leather that has undergone more than 50 processing steps and more than 40 experimental tests before being made. The leather softness reaches the top-level 4.0 standard, and both softness and quality are within reach.It is worth mentioning that the Avatr 12 has a fully stretched presidential-level large rear space. The distance from the occupant's hip to the roof and to the front seatback is close to 1 meter, and the legs can be fully extended. It is indeed rare for a mid-to-large coupe to achieve such rear space. Of course, the zero-gravity seats in the front row are also an excellent place for users to take a nap.
The test car is the three-lidar rear-wheel-drive luxury edition, the second-lowest trim in the entire lineup. In terms of power, it is equipped with a rear permanent magnet synchronous motor, with a maximum motor power of 230kW and maximum torque of 370Nm. The CLTC pure electric range can reach 700km. Driving around the city, the single-motor full-throttle power is absolutely sufficient, and overtaking is as easy as turning over one's hand.
In terms of chassis configuration, the Avatr 12 is also highly stacked. Driving on continuously bumpy roads, it still provides a good ride experience, and the suspension's vibration filtering ability performs well. Overall, it is comfort-oriented. Higher trim models are equipped with air suspension + CDC, the latter of which can adjust damping 143 times per second, further enhancing the chassis's premium feel.
Finally, looking at intelligent driving, the Avatr 12 is equipped with a total of three lidars at the front and on both sides of the fenders, and the lidars are positioned very low, which helps detect obstacles ahead, especially when driving over undulating roads, making the sensors work more reliably. Admittedly, lidar is more accurate than pure vision solutions, as it can penetrate dense fog, heavy rain, and high-contrast lighting environments. The number and line count of lidars also affect intelligent driving accuracy and reliability to a certain extent. The Avatr 12's three lidars with 96 lines can be considered a leading level of intelligent driving sensors in the same class.
In addition, in terms of software judgment, the Avatr 12 is also more "precise and timely." The system version for this test drive was 3.3.2. In the experience in downtown Shanghai, on surface roads, in addition to satisfying conventional operations such as following cars and lane keeping, it can also judge and switch to tidal lanes and bus lanes according to road conditions. On complex urban roads, it can promptly detect traffic participants such as bicycles, electric bikes, and pedestrians.
Although compared with previous versions, the smoothness of intelligent driving has improved, there are still points that need improvement. When creeping slowly, the following distance from the car ahead is a bit too far—at least an unsafe distance that can be easily cut into—and when encountering merging traffic, the system applies too much braking force. At this time, the significant deceleration of one's own car can cause misunderstanding for the other party. Therefore, when encountering merging traffic or alternating passage, the better approach is still for the human driver to take over. In addition, this version of intelligent driving still cannot recognize waiting areas. If there is no vehicle ahead when waiting at a red light, you need to press the accelerator to enter the waiting area.
In any case, the Avatr 12 redefines luxury in this era, comprehensively surpassing traditional luxury giants in performance, handling, comfort, and intelligence.
