Peugeot In China Gets Electrified Under Dongfeng.
Recently there was news coming from China that Chinese car manufacturer Dongfeng has taken the old Peugeot 408 sedan and reworked it to be a full electric car. Named Fukang ES600, this French sedan has lost its petrol and diesel engine to become a full fledged electric car for the growing Chinese car market.
This news was shared by carnewschina on January 11th this year. This is not the first time that the ‘Fukang’ name has been used in China and it comes from a household name in China from the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Fukang is the name of the Chinese version of the Citroen ZX, one of the first affordable mass-market middle-class cars on the Chinese market, which was also made by Dongfeng-PSA.
However, in the mid-2000’s the Fukang name was replaced with the more French-sounding name ‘Elysee’.
The Dongfeng-PSA joint venture runs two brands: Dongfeng-Citroen and Dongfeng-Peugeot. Naturally, there is a lot of overlap and sharing between those brands but they are separate entities. In 2021, Dongfeng-Citroen somewhat silently resurrected the Fukang name for an electric sub-brand called Dongfeng-Fukang. The sub-brand has its own logo and is fully owned by Dongfeng-Citroen.
Currently, Dongfeng-Fukang makes two cars which is the Dongfeng-Fukang e Elysee which is based on the petrol-powered Dongfeng-Citroen Elysee and that is indeed a descendant of the original Fukang Elysee. This car has an output of 82hp and a claimed range of 300 km NEDC. Its selling price starts at 129.800 yuan (which is about USD20,000 and below RM90,000).
The second Dongfeng-Fukang is the ES500 which was formerly called the Dongfeng ES500. It is mainly sold to taxi companies and driving schools. Output is mush more impressive at 150hp. It claimed all electric driving range is also much better at 420km NEDC. The selling price is a little more as it starts at 141.800 yuan (which is around USD22,000).
Meanwhile, this new flagship sedan is called the Dongfeng-Fukang ES600. It is based on the petrol-powered Dongfeng-PSA Peugeot 408 sedan. Design changes are minimal. The biggest difference cane be seen with a revised grille that has its charging point, plus there is a new bumper and a new bonnet as well.
The rest of the car remains as the petrol and diesel powered 408 with even the alloy wheels still being used. It seems that Chinese car buyers will accept an aging design with an electrified powertrain, or will they?
We will have to see of this Fukang-408 EV will sell or not in China.
