A Qiantu K50, seen by my good friend Joachim C. in the great city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. The K50 is painted in a pretty smurf blue and further sexed up with darkened windows and black wheels. The Qiantu K50 was made by a company called Qiantu Motors, which in turn was a spinoff of the automotive technology company CH Auto. After a long and complex development period, the Qiantu K50 finally hit the market in 2018.
It was a very pretty car with original design and technology, based on a unique platform especially developed for the K50. Power came from two electric motors, one on the front axle and one on the rear axle. Combined output was 435 hp and 680 Nm, good for a 200 km/h top speed and a 0-100 in 4.6 seconds. The motors were mated to a 78 kWh battery and the range was 380 kilometers NEDC.
Rather impressive for 2018 but sadly the price was impressive too: 754.300 yuan! Sadly, the K50 didn’t become a success. The ownership of the company changed hands a few times under misty circumstances, and they only managed to open a few shops, including one in Beijing. This, combined with the high price, caused sales to plummet and the K50 was canceled in 2019, after just one year of sales. Plans for a US version and for a convertible came to nothing.
But at least a few dozen were sold and I have some more pics of other ones in my database. More on those later on!