Aiways U6 goes on sale in Germany - starts at €41,001

The recently unveiled Aiways U6 has become available for sale in Germany. This is the second model from the Chinese automaker and it uses the same battery and electric motor as its more conservative looking sibling, the U5.

That battery has 63 kWh capacity and is supplied by CATL, it can handle 90 kW DC charging and will charge from 30 to 80 percent SoC in around 30 minutes. When plugged into a 220V socket it will fully recharge in 9.5 hours. The company claims the U6 can travel for 400 km or 249 miles on a full charge.

The U6 is powered by a single electric motor which drives the front wheels only, it has 160 kW (215 HP) and 315 Nm of torque (232 lb-ft). Performance won’t break any records but it is respectable - it takes less than 7 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h.

In the vibrant yellow the car looks rather interesting if not attractive. Black accents only make the color pop even more, the aggressive front bumper with its low skirt and the rear side winglets make for a very purposeful sporty-looking vehicle. There is a slight hint of Volvo and Polestar influence in the design and it’s not a mistake. The founder of Aiways - Samuel Qiang - used to be sales director for Volvo China.

The color assault goes on inside the car - there is no matching interior though, there is not a hint of yellow inside. Instead we have contrasting blue and red and off-white colors creating a vibrant atmosphere that is unlike any we have seen so far. The colors play well together and the interior has a rather nice quality to it - at least in the photos.

The thing we first notice is the gear selector - the design team must have been made up of serious power boat aficionados because that’s where you can find a throttle shifter like that. Instead, in the U6 you twist the handle to choose a drive mode or use your thumb to put the car in Park mode. Very entertaining and must feel quite special.

The center 14.6” screen provides all the infotainment, the software is Android based and it was developed in-house by Aiways. There is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and the ambient lighting offers no less than 360 different moods. Driver’s display is cleverly blended between the air-vents and it’s rather thin but at 8.2” across it displays clearly all the information required and it makes the dashboard look cleaner and uncluttered.

Great looking SUV and with a starting price of €41,001 after government subsidy is included, it makes a really decent choice. Accidentally the car is priced €434 less than a similar sized VW ID.5 which clearly points to who Aiways wants to compete with. The company is planning to build a U6 SUV Coupe version - just like Skoda Enyaq Coupe iV but the U6 will need more poke if it wants to compete with more powerful versions of VW and Skoda.

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