Aiways U6:  starting at 45,000 euros in Germany

The U5 is now followed by the all-electric SUV coupé U6, which not only has an attractive design but is also technically advanced.

In the last five years, electric car start-ups have mushroomed and often disappeared again very quickly. Aiways was also one of the companies that were given little chance of survival. After all, the e-mobile start-up was only founded in 2017 and calibres like Tesla or Nio are an example of how hard it is to gain a foothold as a car manufacturer, let alone make a profit. The Aiways sales figures of the past year show how hard it is to get started: in Europe, a good 3,000 customers opted for the Aiways U5, and in Germany, it was more than 1,000.

"For us, the U6 is the decisive car, because we learned a lot from the U5," says Dr. Alexander Klose, head of Aiways Europe, about the newcomer. Visually, the 4.80-metre-long SUV coupé has what it takes. The exterior design is reminiscent of a mixture of Lotus Eletre and Polestar 2, which is not the worst idea.

The Aiways U6 is something to behold and will find more buyers than its predecessor, if only because of its appearance. Especially since Chinese engineers have often drawn the right conclusions from the shortcomings of the first model. This starts with the tailgate, which swings open much wider so that even a person 1.85 metres tall can stand upright under it, and continues with the interior.

The interior has a much higher quality than the Aiways U5. The cockpit is tidier. Not only was the exterior inspired by Volvo or Polestar, but the operating logic is virtually identical. The command centre is the 14.6-inch touchscreen, which controls all infotainment and vehicle functions. The remote control via steering wheel buttons is only complementary. During our first operating tests, the basic functions did not present us with any major problems.

 
Similar to the Chinese-Swedish Stromer, the infotainment is based on Android software. The smartphone can then of course be integrated into the infotainment via Android Auto, but also via Apple CarPlay. A major point of criticism with the Aiways 5 was the lack of a navigation system that also takes into account the range of the vehicle and accordingly displays the appropriate charging stations. This is also changing now. Navigation still runs via the driver's mobile phone, but now an app called Pump is combined with Google Maps, which accesses the vehicle data and can thus also provide charging station recommendations based on the remaining range. It will be interesting to see how and whether this works in practice.

The wheelbase of the Aiways U6 is 2.80 metres, so there is plenty of room in the back of the SUV Coupé, especially because you can also slide your feet under the front seats. Despite the sloping roofline, there is still some space above the head. A nice gimmick is the large control lever of the automatic transmission, which is modelled on the gear lever of a yacht: if you turn the handle, the gear is engaged. With a weight of only 1,790 kilograms, the U6 is lightweight.

 
That's why the rated power of 160 kW / 218 hp and the torque of 315 Newton metres are sufficient to accelerate the Aiways from a standstill to 100 km/h in seven seconds; at 160 km/h the electronics drop the anchor. Aiways gives an average consumption of 15.9 to 16.6 kWh/100 km. So much for the technical data. Almost more important is that under the sheet metal, a lot has changed as well. The engineers have changed the electrical architecture and significantly reduced the number of control units. This means that wireless updates are now increasingly possible.

The Aiways U6 shares the MAS platform with the U5 and thus also the 63-kilowatt-hour battery, which is supposed to be good for a range of around 400 kilometres (WLTP). That is not fish and fowl. Others at least offer batteries with 75 kWh or even up to 100 kWh capacity. "We first want to wait and see how far customers really drive and then adjust the battery size accordingly," says Alexander Klose. For Aiways, it is quite conceivable to reduce the battery capacity to 53 kWh or even increase it to 72 to 80 kWh if necessary. However, with the higher capacity, the price would also shoot up significantly, which should be around 45,000 to 48,000 euros.