This is the Chery Explorer 06, as seen in the parking lot of a car market in Beijing. It had just been unveiled at the time, so I was surprised to see one out in the open that soon. It has an interesting design, with split headlights and an enormous black-gray grille with the CHERY name in capitals.
Color names always have a meaning in China. The light green color of this Explorer 06 is called Qianfeng Green (千峰绿), which refers to the Qianfeng Mountains (千峰山), a famous scenic spot in Fuping County, Baoding City, in Hebei Province.
Note the ’05’ sticker on the rear window. This is probably a media test car.
The Explorer 06 is aimed at young folks, with wild design details for a Chery, like the black wheel arches, the big bumpers, the darkened D-pillar, and the square-shaped exhaust pipes. It also has pop-out door handles. extra large mirrors, a spoiler above the rear window. and cool black alloy wheels with red brake calipers.
Characters: 奇瑞汽车, Chery Auto.
The Explorer 06 (探索06) is the first of the new Chery Explorer series. Chery is a champion when it comes to launching new brands and series. Until last year, the Chery brand was divided into two series: Tiggo for the SUVs and Arrizo for the sedans. But that has been changed. Today it is like this: Tiggo continues, Arrizo is dead, and the cars are morphed into the new (and old) Fengyun series, and the Explorer series has been added to the fray. Well, the more cars the better.
The Explorer 06 is an old-school ICE vehicle. There is only one engine available; a 1.6 turbo four-pot with 197 hp and 290 Nm. The torque number is on the car, which is quite common in China, but mostly for EVs. It also has a fiery red T for Turbo. This red T-thing was a trend for turbocharged cars in the 2010s. I am glad Chery keeps this tradition alive even today.
The base versions are front-wheel drive, and the top versions have all-wheel drive. The car that I saw is a top-spec AWD version with a 7-speed DCT. The top speed is 201 kilometers per hour and fuel consumption is 7.48 liters per 100 kilometer.
The Chery Explorer 06 has since been launched on the Chinese SUV market. The AWD model costs 133.900 yuan or $18K, which is not a lot for a 4.5-meter-long car with five seats and such a strong motor. In the next five years, Chery will launch a dozen other cars in the Explorer series.