CARS OF THE WORLD

Chevrolet Menlo 2020.

Cheap electric car Chevrolet Menlo 2020 station wagon (specifications and price).
In the shelf of electric cars is another replenishment. This time, General Motors decided to fill a niche in the Chinese market, which Buick already offers in the Celestial Empire.

The latter became extremely popular, which is probably why the concern also decided to promote the electric train under the Chevrolet banner. The new electric car was named Menlo.

Specifications

The Chevrolet Menlo is built on the same cart as the bestseller — the Buick Velite 6 hatchback, which sold a million copies. The wheelbase will be the same for them.

While the new product is being called the crossover in the network, in fact, a full-fledged station wagon and not a sports car like Tesla will leave the assembly line. The target audience of this car is the family.

Although the dynamics of Menlo is not so bad. Up to a hundred from a traffic light, the wagon accelerates in a little less than 9 seconds. But to reach the second hundred will not work. Electronics will not allow you to move over 150 km.

The power unit here will be an electric motor from HAES. The engine is installed only on the front axle and the drive, respectively, is also front-wheel.

Power return — 150 hp (according to some sources, 174 hp), while the donor has 115 hp The battery pack, oddly enough, is located on the bottom of the car and represents a 52.5 kWh lithium-ion cascade developed by a subsidiary manufacturer SAIC.

The filling information is extremely scarce. It is known for certain only about the advanced multimedia MyLink, which allows you to control the functions of the electric car using a smartphone.

Appearance

It is always interesting to consider the appearance of an electric car. Here, manufacturers are always bolder in their decisions, realizing the most unusual ideas without fear, the audience will not like it.

As for the Menlo wagon, the Chevrolet body design has already been demonstrated at one of its concepts back in 2017.

Everything is traditionally in front — a minimum of decor, a lot of empty space, uncomplicated streamlined architecture with a hint of sport.

But even if they were inspired, it turned out quite tolerably. Although the concept does not at all fit with what we see in front. Many edges, it is not clear why the elements are implemented. Yes, everything is pretty futuristic, but the idea has remained vague.

Salon

Regarding the interior decoration, Chevrolet is still silent. At the presentation, Menlo was glued with a circular impenetrable tint. Either they wanted to catch the Chengdu auto show and didn’t have time to bring the salon to mind, or they just decided to create some kind of hype, it is not clear.

But more than two months have already passed, and potential buyers can only pin their hopes that the interior design will live up to expectations.

Of course, there is a 5-seater concept on the network, shown simultaneously with the body in 2017, but will it turn out to be the same in reality?

The only thing the manufacturer guarantees is a quality interior with modern equipment, with trim including leather, fabrics, plastic and metal, but this is all pretty general information that is not of great value.

Competitors

In the nearest price range in 2020, only the Honda Urban EV and Volkswagen ID 2020 will enter the Chinese market, although they will come out a little more expensive in the minimum configuration — within 300,000 rubles.

It is important to wait for information about the interior to accurately judge the competitive advantages. But in appearance and technical specifications, that Honda and VW are not inferior.

Price and sales start date

Menlo will be sold exclusively in China and, possibly, in some local Asian markets. For the rest of the world, GM is preparing a new Volt.

Market entry is scheduled for mid-2020. The Chinese will be able to purchase a station wagon for 170 thousand local currency, in terms of ours — about 1.5 million rubles.

It is important to note that this is a price adjusted for government subsidies. To find out the theoretical value for other markets, add about 25%.