BAIC gets serious with aggressive new Beijing X55

Chinese automaker BAIC, or Beijing Automotive Industrial Corporation to give its full name, has, to be frank, not had the biggest of successes since arriving on South African soil almost seven years ago.

Despite being one of China’s oldest vehicle manufactures and involved with Jeep and Mercedes-Benz as part of a joint venture partnership, the 62-year-old brand has been on the same level as Great Wall Motors (GWM) and its Haval division, or attracted the same attention has returning marque Chery has had.

Not the easiest of roads

While not one of the original Chinese brands that departed South Africa in the late 2000s before returning, the marque has remained comparatively quiet since opening its massive then R11-billion plant in the Port Elizabeth IDZ, now Gqeberha, in 2016 for assembly of the X25 crossover and sedan.

Extensively criticised and questioned for the 42 000 m² facility and its 21 000 m² paint shop becoming a white elephant due to no apparent production taking place, the automaker has fired back by stating that the plant, capable of producing 50 000 vehicles, remains in use despite admitting to a number of challenges ever since its high profile opening.

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With sightings of the X25 becoming more frequent, BAIC’s assurances of its local market future involved debuting the B40 Plus at the Kyalami Festival of Motoring in 2019, and at this year’s event, the bigger B80.

Marketed under the BJ or Beijing Jeep denominator in China, but unsurprisingly with the “J” removed to avoid unwanted lured or disparaging remarks from South Africans, both models are the result of the mentioned joint ventures and not blatant copies of the Jeep Wrangler and Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

Enter the X55

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum though is the all-new Beijing X55 that premiers as the first model from BAIC’s premium division similar to what Haval is for GWM.

Known as the C52X in its home market, the X55 officially debuted at last year’s Guangzhou Auto Show as BAIC’s most advanced and striking SUV ever made.

A model bound to cause to massive stir, but arguably more of a massive problem for Haval and Chery, the X55’s official South African preview this week will expand to it going on-sale as early as next month.

Despite the presence of pre-production prototypes and actual market-ready models at said event, first impressions, including an extensive drive around Hartebeesport Dam, were largely positive.

Look familiar?

Build upon BAIC’s new BMFA (Beijing Modular Functional Architecture 2.0) platform, which additionally comes with Mercedes-Benz input, the Beijing X55 measures 4 620 mm in overall length with its wheelbase coming to 2 735 mm and width to 1 886 mm.

Standing 1 680 mm tall, its dimensions are, however, no match for its styling, which appears aggressive, futuristic and not dissimilar to design of the Lamborghini Urus or even the Chinese market Volkswagen Lamando when viewed from the front.

Described as “avant-garde” by BAIC, the edgy styling tampers off to more a conservative look at the rear, which resembles that of the Range Rover Velar and from some angles, the Peugeot 3008.

Tech and spec galore

It is nonetheless an arresting looking thing that drives the point home in the biggest possible way on the inside.

Conforming to the minimalistic design trend, the clean and smart-looking cabin not only houses soft-touch materials, but a floating centre console similar to the BMW iX, a freestanding 10.1-inch infotainment system and a 10.25-inch digital instrument display.

In addition, the X55 sports bucket seats modelled on those of the Urus, ambient lighting that alters between colours automatically and a deep central storage area that doubles-up as an armrest.

For South Africa, BAIC will offer the Beijing X55 in three trim levels; Level 1, 2 and 3 with specification items, depending on the grade, comprising heated and ventilated front seats with a massaging function, an electric tailgate, panoramic sunroof, rain sense wipers, dual-zone climate control with rear vents, LED headlights, keyless entry, wireless smartphone charger and push-button start.

A drive mode selector with four modes; Eco, Comfort, Smart and Sport comes standard, along with Electronic Stability Control, Hill Descent Control, six airbags, front and rear parking sensors, a reverse camera, tyre pressure monitor and Automatic Emergency Braking.

On the move

As for motivation, BAIC has settled upon a single drivetrain; a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine called Magic Core paired to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

A setup that doesn’t sound enticing on paper, the fine print is what matters, in this case, outputs of 130kW/305Nm directed to the front wheels.

As intriguing as this sound, especially the latter, the Beijing X55 doesn’t like being thrashed as we discovered after a few laps circling the Zwartkops Raceway outside Pretoria.

Even in its sportiest setting, the transmission reacts slowly and the low-down turbo-lag irksome to say the least. It does handle well though and also comes enough steering feedback for a vehicle of this type. The claimed fuel consumption is 7.8 L/100 km with no performance figures being available at present.

Where the X55 is more at home though is open the road. Boasting an independent MacPherson strut suspension at the front and multi-link at the rear, the ride is extremely comfortable, imperfections well dampened and the cabin incredibly well insulated from road noise.

Unlike the infotainment system that needs familiarisation, but still comes across as complicated to fathom, the main drawing card it the amount of space available.

Highly unlikely to attract criticism from those seated at the front, rear-and-leg headroom, as per the importance of rear passenger comfort in China, is on a different level compared to anything but a long wheelbase executive sedan.

Simply put, it trounces the majority of its rivals and also comes with a respectable boot that can be increased by dropping the rear seats. Sadly, no capacity figures were revealed.

Conclusion

While some fine tuning is needed before sales commence next month, the Beijing X55 has all the hallmarks of being a success from a tech, styling and specification standpoint.

But by far the biggest talking point is the price. Confirmed to be built at the mentioned plant from next year, prices will range from between R400 000 to R460 000.

On track therefore to be one of the proverbial bargains of the century, a final verdict is expected once it arrives for testing.