The Arcfox Kaola is one of the quirkiest EVs currently available in China, however that quirkiness is about to get a whole lot less. When launched, the car came purely as a four-seater aimed at mothers with young children. And if you’re wondering about the name, in Chinese, it means koala, but for some reason, the English name is Kaola – a direct transliteration of the Chinese.
The Kaola S will launch on August 7, and while the original Kaola (see specs) is positioned as an MPV, the Kaola S is meant to be positioned as a compact SUV. It should be noted, though, that there is no real difference externally between the two cars. Dimensions remain at 4500, 1870, and 1655 mm with a wheelbase of 2820 mm. Externally the only significant difference between the two versions appears to be that the Kaola S is no longer black above the window line. Otherwise, the car retains the MPV-type lines and has a sliding door on the right-hand side to access the rear passenger area.
Perhaps the S in the Kaola S name stands for ‘seat’ because the car is now a five-seater rather than a 4-seater. In the original Kaola, there were just 2 seats in the second row with a strong fold-out table provided for baby changing. With the Kaola S, it has a far more traditional rear bench. However, some of the baby-friendly elements are still there, with the car boasting an extremely clean cockpit that uses almost zero aldehydes and zero benzene. It has a baby-level skin-friendly interior that uses organic antibacterial agents.
Upfront, the Kaola S seems exactly the same as the existing car, with a 14.6-inch centrally mounted infotainment screen and a 10.25-inch LCD instrument cluster. Other equipment includes features such as remote start, automatic air conditioning, keyless entry, and a panoramic roof. Inside, the car has a black-and-white color scheme, and the seats get diamond-shaped quilting.
As mentioned, the major difference between the Kaola S and the original car is the addition of a middle seat. This, however, doesn’t appear to have a headrest. The distance between the front and rear rows is as much as 1025 mm, and the interior height is 1245 mm. Perhaps the Kaola S can best be seen as a car for a mother with older children. It retains the electric sliding door on the right-hand side with a low platform of 340 mm, along with a grab handle for children just 0.7 meters above the ground and a handrail for adults above that to help them enter the car.
The powertrain is also completely unchanged with the car using a front-melted 120 kW electric motor which can provide a peak torque of 240 Nm. Range using CLTC measurements is 500 km with the juice coming from a CATL supplied lithium iron phosphate battery pack of 58.8 kWh. This can be charged from 30 to 80% in 26 minutes and the car also supports V2V and V2L charging.
Arcfox says that high-strength steel accounts for 62.1% of the Kaola S’s body and that its torsional rigidity is 37,400 Nm/degree.
Arcfox sold 8,017 cars in July, a 329% year-on-year increase. This marked the second consecutive month that the brand has managed to sell more than 8,000. The brand was created in 2017 by BAIC and solely sells EVs. Over the course of 2023, the brand sold 30,016 cars.
Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology
