A new EV brand has been spotted testing in Australia, hinting at its imminent arrival in the local market with a sleek electric SUV as its first offering.
A picture of what is believed to be an Avatr 07 SUV in camouflage wrap was spotted by Thomas and reshared on X by Roland from ZappedAu.
Avatr is a premium Chinese EV brand created as a joint venture between three industry giants. These include the auto manufacturer Changan, the battery manufacturer CATL, and the tech company Huawei.
It was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Chongqing, China, with design and engineering hubs sitting in Shanghai and Munich, Germany.
The Avatar 07 was seen in New South Wales and is likely a testing vehicle ahead of the model’s likely launch later this year.
In the picture shared, the daytime running lights at the front can be seen through the wrap and match the sequence of the 07 SUV model. There also appears to be a LiDAR sensor on the roof, which is quite common in cars with autonomous driving functionality in China.
The 07 is currently sold in right-hand-drive markets like Thailand and Singapore, with Thai prices starting at around the same as a Tesla Model Y Premium RWD in that market.
Avatr incorporates Huawei’s infotainment and autonomous driving tech and uses CATL’s latest batteries, featuring some of the fastest charging tech on the market.
The 07 is one of its newer models and has been produced in China since 2024. The EV variant of the car comes with an 82.16 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery from CATL.
This will help the car reach a CLTC range of up to 650 km, which is likely to be closer to 500 km on the WLTP cycle more commonly used in Australia.
Coming in both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations, it can get the car from 0-100 km/h in as little as 3.9 seconds, reaching a top speed of 200 km/h.
More details around the local specs, pricing and variants are expected to be announced closer to the launch.
Sign up for The Driven’s free daily newsletter and get the latest EV news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox.
