Qoros plans model range expansion

Chinese start-up brand Qoros is planning a significant expansion of its model range.

The company is currently ramping up production of its Volkswagen Jetta-size 3 saloon, which will be followed by hatchback and estate versions.

However, Qoros chief designer Gert Hildebrand said the company’s new platform is flexible enough to stretch from a potential VW Volkswagen Golf-size hatch up to a large, seven-seat SUV.

Qoros’s new platform — which recently scored highly in the Euro NCAP crash tests — will use a common 2690mm wheelbase, but it can be shortened by 50mm overall to create a Golf rival or stretched by another 130mm to create a BMW 5-series-size model.

Further flexibility is built into the engineering of the rear overhang, which can be shrunk by 70mm and stretched by as much as 230mm, and the ride height can be varied by as much as 200mm. The platform can also accommodate three different seat heights: 70mm higher for the upcoming hatch-based crossover and higher again for the planned SUV. 

Judging by the design sketches above, Qoros appears to have started early work on a large saloon and a seven-seat SUV, both of which will be important to the Chinese market.

An ultra-flexible architecture and having the minimum number of unique major components in its corporate parts bin are key to Qoros’s strategy, which dramatically reduces engineering investment and production complexity.

For example, Qoros is offering just two 1.6-litre petrol engines, in turbocharged and naturally aspirated forms, and just two transmissions (a six-speed manual and a six-speed dual-clutch automatic).

The company claims it has not invested much more than £600 million so far, despite engineering a platform from scratch, having productionised two new body styles and invested in a new factory site. 

The factory will have an annual capacity of 150,000 units in its first phase of production, expanding to 300,000 units in two years’ time.