New model likely to get BEV and EREV drivetrains and Huawei’s latest ADS driving assistance system.
Huawei-backed AITO has released the first official images of its all-new M7, the replacement for the brand’s best-selling model and one of the top 20 best-selling electrified vehicles in the world.
The new M7 gets the updated look first debuted on the M8 model, with a more rounded, closed-face front end, muscular and inoffensive sculpting, and more aggressive headlights, as well as a lidar unit for Huawei’s ADS system.
No other details of the M7 have been released yet, but we’re expecting it adopt Huawei’s Turing platform and grow in dimensions over the former model which was based on the ageing Fengon ix7 platform.
We’re also expecting it to come in either 5- or 6-seat variants with both EV and EREV variations offered.
The limited images released by AITO don’t provide much in the way of secrets but instead focus on the lifestyle elements of the car, which fits in with the typical demographic for the M7 with families and storage the key ingredients.
At the front, the M7 gets the same full-width chrome/daytime running light strip from the M8 across the front but with headlamps that extend both above and below the line featuring a wraparound light graphic on either end.
Air inlets beneath the headlamps guide air around the front wheels, while otherwise simple, rounded styling and gentle scalloping on the bonnet give the M7 a friendly face that is similar but not as imposing as its larger sibling.
From this front view we can also see there’s a speaker on top of the dashboard and a head-up display, both things to be expected from Huawei-backed brands.
At the rear, we can see that the M7 gets a different rear-end treatment from the M8 and M9 with a slim, full-width lightbar across the back rather than the larger pixel lights units we see on the brand’s flagship models.
Along the side there are scoop-style door handles rather than the previous models’ pop-out handles, chrome details along the roof bars, around the windows, and along the bottom of the doors, as well as by the front wing cameras, and there’s an additional chrome line across the bottom of the rear bumper.
The car in the pictures would appear to be a five-seater with a large boot and a high load height, though air suspension might enable users to lower this.
We can also see that the windows appear to be more flush than those on the older M7, and the new model gets the electronic side-step to ease access to the cabin.
Previous versions of the M7, based on a dated platform, were only available in EREV form but with the new M7’s likely migration to Huawei’s Turing platform, we’d expect both EV and EREV versions to be sold with the hybrid going on sale first.
In the old model, single motor versions got a 200kW motor on the rear axle, with dual motor versions adding a 130kW motor on the front. The M8 gets 165kW on the front and 227kW on the rear, so expect something similar on the new M7, improving its 4.8-second 0-100 time.
Prices for the old model started at just under RMB 250,000 (£26,000 / $34,900), with the M8 kicking things off at RMB 359,800 ((£37,400 / $50,200), and although we’d normally expect a small price hike with a new model, with the Li Auto L6 starting at RMB 249,800, the price might just stay the same.
There’s no word yet on a launch date but with the Chengdu Auto Show coming up at the end of August, a debut there looks highly likely.
