Meet perhaps the smallest new electric convertible on the market. This is the Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet, a true open-top version of one of the most popular electric cars in China.
The Wuling Mini EV has a mischievous appearance by nature. The angular and fully called Hongguang Mini EV is 2.92 meters short and is therefore a particularly small electric car, despite being 22 centimeters longer than a Smart ForTwo. That it can be even smaller, Wuling proved in October this year with the Nano EV. Wuling is now demonstrating that it can be even more fun in addition to being smaller with the Mini EV Cabriolet!
The Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet doesn’t come out of the blue. The Mini EV is immensely popular in China and in April this year the brand already showed a conceptual cut-open version of its small electric city rascal. The Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet that has emerged from the AutoWeek from the Chinese database of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is therefore the production version of that harbinger. Unlike the Smart ForTwo Cabrio, the Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet is actually a convertible. So it has more than just a roll-top roof that can be opened far back. Wuling gives his electric bon vivant a fully-fledged fabric folding roof. The Mini EV Cabriolet gets two roll bars behind the headrests for safety and looks exactly as you would expect from an open version of the Mini EV.
Still, more has changed than you might initially think. At 2.01 meters, the Wuling EV Cabriolet has a 6 centimeters longer wheelbase than its close brothers. The Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet also exceeds the regular Mini EV in length. The open version is not 2.92, but 3.06 meters long. In addition, the Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet undoubtedly weighs 925 kg instead of 665 kg due to the application of the necessary reinforcements. To compensate for that weight, Wuling gives the Mini EV Cabriolet a 41 hp electric motor. Quite a difference with the 18 hp strong copy in the closed variant.
Is the Wuling Mini EV Cabriolet coming to Europe? You would think not, but nothing could be further from the truth. As Freze Froggy, the Mini EV Cabriolet will be the brother of the Freze Nikrob EV that is also coming to Europe. Here you can read a special story about the Freze Nikrob EV that will be sold in Europe by none other than the founder of the eccentric Dartz Motor Company.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl