The first true rival to the Xiaomi YU7 can’t quite match it for thrills, but it might just drive itself into contention.
Large electrified three-row SUVs are old hat in China now. Everybody’s got one, everybody’s fridge is bigger than the last one, and frankly the segment has all the excitement of a departure lounge. The new trend is something far more entertaining: the FUV, or Ferrari Utility Vehicle, a name coined because the Xiaomi YU7 riffed so heavily on the Ferrari Purosangue that the nickname simply stuck.
The YU7 created this segment more or less single-handedly, and it did it so well that I put a deposit down on one. It was the first Chinese car I’d driven that could do the family stuff and still be genuinely enjoyable from behind the wheel. A year on, the copycats were always coming. The only question was whether any of them could land a punch.
This is the first one to try. It is, of course, the Voyah Passion S.
Why does the Passion S exist?
Voyah is Dongfeng’s premium brand, and its Chinese name for this car, Zhuiguang S, translates rather beautifully as Chasing Light. What it’s actually chasing is the YU7, which has been hoovering up sales in the mid-to-large sporty SUV space with nothing resembling direct competition.
So Voyah built one. The Passion S measures 5,050mm long, 1,998mm wide and 1,656mm tall on a 3,000mm wheelbase, which puts it within millimetres of the YU7 GT in every direction. It launched on 15 August with three trims priced between RMB 229,900 ($33,800) and RMB 279,900 ($41,200), usefully under its pre-sale figure of RMB 309,900, and it arrived with a marketing stunt for the ages: driving a full 360-degree loop around the ceiling of a tunnel in Wuhan, a deliberate restaging of the CGI-created 2010 Mercedes SLS AMG advert. When the internet cried CGI this time, Voyah released a one-take uncut video at the launch event. A leaked clip of a camouflaged prototype falling off the tunnel ceiling during an earlier attempt rather supports the whole thing being real.
There’s a bigger picture too. Stellantis agreed in May to a joint venture to sell Voyah in Europe, where the brand already retails in the Netherlands and Norway, and we’ve had it confirmed by Voyah that Australia and New Zealand are also in the plans. This car will leave China. Make no mistake about that.
And it looks fantastic. Very slippery, very sporty, a lovely low centre of gravity, and a drag coefficient of just 0.24 achieved through around 18 aero features and through-flow wind ducts, including a new channel flowing under the bonnet above the daytime running lights and through the front wing and bonnet. The daytime running lights are slim and segmented, a bit Porsche in their detailing, and arguably more attractive than those on the Xiaomi. It looks especially good in this Ferrari-style red, which I’m sure is a complete coincidence.
What’s the Passion S like inside?
Quite premium, rather stylish, and heavy on the screens. Like the YU7, it sports a pair of zero-gravity seats in the front, equipped with all the usual niceties one’s come to expect from Chinese EVs, but unlike the Xiaomi it doubles up on large screens and throws in an impressive HUD for good measure, but misses out on the sparkle of the HyperVision screen in the Xiaomi.
While the Xiaomi opts for storage, such as the enormous glovebox, the Voyah prioritises comfort, doing without the a glovebox entirely so that the front passenger seat can, at the push of a button in the B-pillar, fold forward and slide under the dash opening up absolute bags of legroom for the rear passenger. No other car in this segment does that. It takes about 45 seconds, mind, so don’t expect theatre.
The rest of the cabin makes a strong first impression. Soft-touch materials run essentially everywhere except inside the door pockets, with contrast stitching and piping that feels genuinely sporty, and the beige colourway photographed here is one of several options. The only letdowns are the plastic panels in the doors and around the wireless charger which feel a little on the brittle side.
Space in the back is properly good. With the driver’s seat set for my 178cm frame there’s loads of knee room, excellent thigh support from a low-set base cushion, wide shoulders and plenty of headroom despite the fastback roofline. Rear passengers get capacitive controls for their own climate zone and heated and ventilated outboard seats, an adjustable backrest angle, and a little removable ambient lamp that charges in the door and comes camping with you, a trick borrowed from the Zeekr MIX. There’s no drawer under the rear bench like the YU7 offers, however.
Storage elsewhere is decent rather than exceptional. The manually-opening frunk holds a useful square space of a claimed 80-litres, and while the boot is a little shallow it still offers 574-litres with the seats up, and 1,744 with them down, both a little down on the YU7. There is, however, a 220-volt household socket in the boot plus 6.6kW vehicle-to-load from the charge port. The rear seats fold 40/60 electrically, and you can drop the air suspension at the press of a button to lower the load lip.
What about the tech?
This is where the Passion S plays its trump card. Voyah has climbed thoroughly into bed with Huawei, and while it’s not part of the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, it’s the first brand outside it to get Huawei’s very latest kit. That means Qiankun ADS 5.0 running on a sensor suite of 33 units, headlined by a dual-path 896-line LiDAR at the top of the windscreen. Most LiDAR units in China run somewhere between 128 and 256 lines; this one can pick out an obstacle just 14 centimetres tall from 120 metres away. It’s backed by three solid-state LiDARs covering the car’s near field, three 4D millimetre-wave radars, and the usual army of cameras. We didn’t have time to properly test the autonomous driving on this occasion, but we’ve demonstrated how strong Huawei’s system is in its previous versions, and this is the best-equipped implementation in China right now. We’ll give it a full workout another time.
The cockpit is Huawei-flavoured too. Twin 15.6-inch 2.5K screens sit side by side so your passenger can watch what they like, running HarmonyOS 5.2 with slick 3D graphics and, much appreciated by this foreigner, full English language support. A letterbox 8.8-inch driver’s display handles the basics, but you’ll barely look at it because the 29-inch augmented reality head-up display is one of the best I’ve seen in any car.
The 27-speaker, 2,160-watt Voyah Sound system has metal grates in the roof, A-pillars, doors and dash, with good balance, proper bass, and customisable venue modes that can make your music sound like a private concert, a stadium, or, for reasons known only to the software team, a bathtub. A ventilated 50-watt wireless charger, a dual-hinged 6.6-litre fridge in the centre console that runs from -6C to 50C and opens from both front seats, and YU7-style threaded mounting points on the dashboard for action cameras round out a very complete cabin.
What’s the Passion S like to drive?
Here’s the thing. The one big reason I put a deposit down on a YU7 was that it’s genuinely good to drive, a rare high spot in Chinese vehicle dynamics, and Voyah has made a lot of noise about the Passion S rivalling it in exactly that department. Honestly, it doesn’t quite match up.
It’s certainly quick enough. The single-motor car gets a 300kW unit on the rear axle, while the dual-motor version adds a 175kW front motor for 475kW combined and a 0-100km/h sprint of 4.5 seconds. That’s brisk by any sane measure, but it’s not YU7-quick, and the gap grows the harder you look. The steering is reasonable but pretty lifeless, not particularly precise and light even in its heaviest setting, so it never feels racy straight off the bat. The throttle modulation is slightly odd too, a little grabby and perky as you roll into the power rather than a smooth build. You could blame that on me, but I certainly didn’t have the same problem in the Xiaomi.
What it does do brilliantly is refinement. Double-glazed frameless windows and thorough soundproofing make it lovely and hushed inside, free of shakes and rattles, and the ride quality is genuinely good. Standard air suspension adjusts through 80mm of height, four-piston callipers handle the stopping, and a road-preview sensor reads the surface ahead to smooth things further. I wouldn’t call it magic carpet levels just yet, but it’s compliant, flat through corners, and can be good fun at speed. Call it 90% of what a YU7 does, minus the last 10% that makes the Xiaomi special.
There is one genuinely daft party trick the Xiaomi doesn’t have. Swipe down the screen, press the propulsion mode button, and the Passion S serves up a digital engine note with simulated gear changes through steering wheel paddles. Downshifts and upshifts deliver a little jerk through the motor to replicate the sensation, complete with throttle blips and, if you change down too early, a backfire crackle I could honestly do without. It won’t let you grab a comically tall gear, it’s not quite Ioniq 5 N levels of theatre, but it’s certainly better than the static drone in cars like the Avatr 11. For people who can’t let go of manual gearboxes but want an EV, it’s a lovely bit of nonsense.
The battery story is solid rather than spectacular. The 800-volt platform supports 5C charging for a claimed 20-80% in around ten minutes, with 81kWh and 98kWh packs giving a CLTC range of 630km to 740km depending on configuration; the dual-motor flagship claims 700km. The YU7’s longest-range version tops 800km on the same cycle, so Xiaomi keeps the efficiency crown as well. Our drive was too brief for meaningful consumption figures, so we’ll reserve judgement there.
How much does it cost, and what else should you consider?
The launch pricing is the Passion S’s sharpest weapon. Three trims span RMB 229,900 ($33,800) to RMB 279,900 ($41,200), which makes this the most affordable car in China with Huawei’s latest ADS 5.0 system and that 896-line LiDAR. Nothing else offers this level of autonomous driving hardware at this money.
The YU7 remains the obvious cross-shop, sharper to drive and longer of leg, with the YU7 GT sitting above as the performance halo. Beyond that, the Zeekr 7X offers Geely’s alternative take on a premium electric SUV at similar money, while buyers who prioritise the chauffeur experience over the driving one might also look at AITO’s Huawei-blessed range, including a new direct rival in the form of the stunning Luxeed RX. If being driven matters more to you than driving, the Voyah makes a very strong case indeed.
Conclusion
So did the Xiaomi YU7 just get beat? Not quite. The YU7 is undoubtedly the better car to drive, more engaging, more precise, quicker, and more efficient, and my deposit is staying exactly where it is.
But the Passion S was never really trying to out-Xiaomi Xiaomi. It gets about 90% of the way there on the driving, wraps it in a gorgeous body, undercuts the pre-sale price by a meaningful chunk, and then plays a card the YU7 simply doesn’t hold: the best autonomous driving hardware in China, at the lowest price it’s ever been offered. For the buyer who’d rather be driven than drive, that flips the entire contest.
It might not beat the YU7. It doesn’t need to. It just needs to chase the light, and on this evidence Voyah has built its strongest sales driver yet. I’m looking forward to a lot more of these FUVs, and this one, make no mistake, will be coming out of China very soon.
We like: Stunning design inside and out; class-leading Huawei ADS 5.0 hardware at an unmatched price; superb refinement and ride; that folding front passenger seat.
Not so much: Lifeless steering and grabby throttle; short headrests; no glovebox and some cheap console plastic; YU7 goes further on a charge.
Verdict: Not the YU7’s match on the road, but the smartest way into Huawei’s best self-driving tech makes it a rival Xiaomi must take seriously.
| Model | Voyah Passion S (dual motor, as tested) |
| Price range | RMB 229,900 to RMB 279,900 ($33,800 to $41,200) |
| Motors | 175kW front / 300kW rear, 475kW combined (RWD: 300kW) |
| 0-100km/h | 4.5 seconds |
| Battery | 81kWh or 98kWh, 800-volt platform, 5C charging |
| Charging claim | 20-80% in around 10 minutes |
| Range (CLTC) | 630km to 740km depending on configuration |
| ADAS | Huawei Qiankun ADS 5.0, 896-line dual-path LiDAR, 33 sensors |
| Dimensions | 5,050mm long, 1,998mm wide, 1,656mm tall, 3,000mm wheelbase |
| Drag coefficient | 0.24 |
