Posted on 29 Sep 2022
Chinese automotive brand Skywell says it has opened an office in Russia and will start sending its ET5 crossover electric vehicles to dealers in a month, Kallanish reports.
“Skywell branded dealer centres will be opened in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Krasnodar and other million-plus cities,” says the head of Skywell Russia Alexander Ivanov. “The first car of the brand in Russia will be the flagship of the brand Skywell ET5. In February 2023, HT-i hybrid crossovers should join. And next year, the D11 electric minibuses will appear in the line-up.”
The Russian dealership network will be spread throughout the country, with around 30 car dealerships expected to sell the cars this year. The company plans to sell over 3,000 flagship ET5 and new HT-i hybrid crossovers.
The Skywell ET5 is a mid-size five-seater crossover, often compared with the BMW X3 or Audi Q5 in terms of size. It promises a range of over 500 kilometres. It’s available under two configurations at RUB 4.4 million ($74,934) and RUB 4.98m.
The highlights of the luxury version will be fully reclining seats for healthy sleep and the “camping” mode, which will provide the owner with 220V electricity output.
On Wednesday, Russian EV brand Evolute started production at the Motorinvest plant in the Lipetsk region. The factory is designed to produce over 100,000 EVs/year, but it’s unclear when this scale will be achieved.
Russia is yet to launch mass domestic production of EVs. Most domestically made electric cars are expected in 2023 and 2024. According to a new draft strategy for the development of the automotive industry, EVs should have a market share of 15% in the country by 2030.
Source:Kallanish
