Dongfeng’s Voyah launched the Passion S electric SUV on Friday after promoting it with a stunt in which the car drove a full loop around a tunnel ceiling in Wuhan. Prices start at 229,900 yuan, about $33,800, for a car with 800V charging and Huawei’s latest driver assistance.
Dongfeng’s premium brand Voyah launched an electric SUV on Friday, and the reason anyone noticed is that it drove the car upside down. Footage shows the Passion S completing a full loop around the ceiling of a closed test tunnel in Wuhan, a deliberate restaging of the Mercedes SLS AMG advert from 2010.
The physics were tight. The car hit the ramp at about 130km/h with 16 degrees of steering lock, and Voyah says a few kilometres per hour slower would have dropped it.
The company insists it was real, using a standard production car with no effects, and has released uncut footage. A leaked clip of an earlier attempt, in which the car falls from the ceiling, is oddly the most persuasive evidence that nobody rendered this.
Strip away the theatre and the car is the story. The Passion S launched in three trims from 229,900 to 279,900 yuan, roughly $33,800 to $41,200.
