China's Aiways U6ion brings some really interesting coupe crossover looks

Aiways didn't get the big shebang it likely hoped for with the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, but the U6ion electric coupe crossover wasn't going to wait around for the coronavirus to subside.

On Wednesday, the Chinese startup revealed the electric coupeover, if you will, with some very interesting looks. In our original story that included a teaser image, the Roadshow crew thought the U6ion looked pretty good with the right angles and maybe a smidge of Lamborghini Urus in its DNA.

What starts to throw things off is the rear, which comes to a very abrupt stop compared with a longer front fascia and its chin. Instead, the rear ends in a squared-off fashion, and for some reason, sports a rear wing that looks kind of goofy. I think there are some good things going on here, but the lack of real estate at the rear makes things look awfully busy, especially with a pretty cohesive front-end design.

To be fair, Aiways said many of the design elements are in the name of aerodynamics, so perhaps this is a case of function over form. For example, the rear fender and wheel arches feature shark fins that contribute to the busy look. But, they help eliminate drag. If this concept moves to production, hopefully things will be toned down a tad.

Production shouldn't be too difficult to achieve either; the U6ion rides on the same platform as the U5 crossover, which will go on sale this August, called the MAS platform. The platform keeps the vehicles as light as possible to boost the electric range.

Inside the electric concept car is a properly futuristic design, but again, it's easy to see a production cockpit underneath some of the pizazz. The color scheme looks like BB8 had a field day, with white and orange all over, while a Tesla-like screen sits in the center of the dash. Ahead of the driver is another screen, and there's some sort of odd rotary gear selector, which seems sort of strange for an electric car. There's no transmission tunnel, which would mean more room for storage cubbies and the like. Nevertheless, it's certainly not a bad-looking cabin.

Aiways isn't talking about performance or range yet, but we should know a lot more later this year as the company prepares to launch in Europe. The U5 crossover should carry a 65 kilowatt-hour battery, but it also has no range estimates available. If there's one thing companies like Aiways prove, though, it's that a swift shift to EVs has opened a space for startups to try and establish a footprint.

Watch this: Byton's M-Byte electric SUV is ready at the Frankfurt Motor Show

01:49