The Voyah Dream 9. The flagship MPV will open for pre-sales in China on September 5. Credit: Voyah
- Voyah will directly disclose the Dream 9’s variants and pre-sales prices, replacing launch-event fanfare with hands-on customer experiences.
- The flagship MPV targeting the 500,000-yuan segment will offer plug-in hybrid and battery electric versions.
Dongfeng Motor subsidiary Voyah (HKEX: 7489) will open pre-sales for the Dream 9 multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) at 10:00 am Beijing Time on Saturday, without holding an offline pre-sales event.
Voyah said on Friday that the Dream 9’s variants and pre-sales prices will be disclosed on Saturday. Display vehicles will begin arriving at showrooms across China the same day, allowing potential buyers to experience and test-drive the model.
Voyah chairman Lu Fang said on Weibo that the company decided after careful consideration to cancel the offline event in an effort to reduce unnecessary marketing hype.
“What we’re calling off isn’t the launch event, but unnecessary marketing hype,” Lu said. The company wants customers to experience the vehicle first and then decide whether the flagship model is good enough, he said.
The decision comes amid growing criticism within China’s auto industry this year of crowded launch calendars and excessive marketing competition.
GWM (HKEX: 2333) chairman Wei Jianjun said in late July that about 630 new and refreshed models were introduced in China in the first half of the year, resulting in an average of 2 to 3 launch events a day. BYD executive vice president He Zhiqi voiced a similar view in early July.
The Voyah Dream 9 is expected to target the luxury MPV market at around 500,000 yuan ($73,760), marking Voyah’s latest effort to expand its premium product lineup.
The vehicle measures 5,325 mm in length, 1,998 mm in width and 1,823 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 3,200 mm, according to its regulatory filing.
Voyah said it is the world’s first MPV equipped with a retractable illuminated hood ornament, which supports customizable raising and lowering settings as well as welcome lighting sequences.
The Dream 9 is built on a Level 3 autonomous-driving architecture and features a Huawei-supplied 896-channel, dual-path main LiDAR, along with 3 solid-state LiDAR units for blind-spot detection.
Lu described the model as a product of deep technological integration between Voyah and Huawei. However, the company has yet to disclose the full specifications of the Dream 9’s driver-assistance and cockpit systems.
The new model will offer plug-in hybrid and battery electric versions, with an 800-volt high-voltage platform and batteries from CATL (HKEX: 3750) standard across the lineup.
The plug-in hybrid version has a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine and dual electric motors, delivering a combined output of 555 kW. It is equipped with a 65-kWh battery pack.
The battery electric version has front and rear motors with peak outputs of 175 kW and 300 kW, respectively, and uses a 120-kWh battery pack.
The Dream 9 is also tasked with helping Voyah improve its product mix and profitability. The company’s revenue rose 42.4% year on year to 18.16 billion yuan in the first half, while deliveries increased 35.9% to 76,264 vehicles.
However, Voyah’s gross margin fell to 17.7%, and the company posted a net loss of 389 million yuan, compared with a profit of 460 million yuan a year earlier. It attributed the deterioration in profitability to higher costs for materials including lithium carbonate and memory chips.
Voyah has not announced a formal launch date for the Dream 9, but previously said the model was planned for release in the second half of the year.
The Voyah Passion S has limited-time prices of 223,900 yuan ($33,000) to 273,900 yuan, undercutting the Xiaomi YU7.
($1 = 6.7787 yuan)
