[Ovais]

What is called the Voyah Chasing Light for the rest of the world, is known as the Voyah Zhuiguang in the Chinese Domestic Market. Voyah is the luxury brand of the very popular vehicle manufacturer in China, the Dongfeng Motor Corporation. Dongfeng, which was founded in 1969 has been known to produce light trucks, heavy trucks, buses, small cars and what not. In its earlier years, it was known to produce heavy transportation vehicles only but in the last three decades, Dongfeng has not only partnered with foreign automobile companies such as Kia, Honda and Nissan to produce their vehicles in China, they have introduced their own vehicle brands namely, Venucia, Fengdu, Aeolus and Forthing. Today, it is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in China which not only produces vehicles for the Chinese market, it also has a huge number of exports to other countries as well.

In 2022, Dongfeng introduced its luxury brand called VOYAH. While the earlier brands did produce some decent vehicles, with this brand, they intend to target the customers of Luxury Vehicles like the Audi A6, BMW 7 series etc. They started manufacturing with two vehicles, the Voyah Free and the Voyah Dreamer. I will be covering those vehicles at a later time as well but at this point in time, I got to explore the Voyah Chasing Light, which is known as Zhuiguang in China, and I’ll be sharing my findings here.

Let’s start with the exterior of the vehicle. When you first see the car, the styling and the size of the vehicle is what you notice. It has a sleek design, that starts from the front and is continued to the rear in a similar fashion. It is reminiscent of the name, Chasing Light.





The front has sleek headlights, incorporated into a slim fascia that has an LED light from corner to corner, converging into the Voyah logo right in the center, which itself also glows with LEDs.





Walking towards the rear, you will notice that this is quite a long vehicle, with the rear doors longer than the front ones, and a noticeably long wheelbase, you can tell how much legroom it would have, without even stepping into the vehicle. The design on the side generally follows clean lines with a matte silver design feature towards the lower end, that adds a little break to these lines.



You will also notice that has flush door handles that come out as soon as you unlock the car and retract back into the body as soon as you lock it.




In the rear, you also see LED taillights from corner to corner, as long flowing led lights is quite a norm in the design of the vehicles in China these days. While the LED tail lights are pretty eye-catching, I believe a slightly more minimalistic design of the lights would’ve been more appealing as there appears to be a lot going on in the design. You will also see VOYAH written in white glowing lettering in the center.

[Ovais]

The front lights and the rear lights give you a light show when the car is locked or unlocked, which Voyah calls the Active Welcome Light Language. The lights glow in an animated manner and it looks quite cool!


Right above the taillights, you will notice that there is a small piece that appears to be separate from the trunk lid and you wonder what that is. This is actually a dynamic spoiler that the car raises or lowers depending the speed that you are driving it at. Is it a design gimmick or actually a functional spoiler, I’m not entirely sure but it does look pretty cool.




You will see that the car has a Panoramic Roof that covers pretty much the whole of the roof. It is a single piece of glass from the front to the back which allows for a smooth looking roof, with structural supports towards the middle, which is not visible in the glass from the outside but can be seen from the inside. The panoramic roof cannot be opened though if you wish to enjoy the nice weather.





The car comes with 20 inch Alloy Wheels as standard with 245/45-R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Tyres. There are two design options that you can choose from.





The car is All-Wheel Drive (AWD) with Permanent Magnetic Synchronous Electric Motors for both pairs of wheels that produce a combined power of 503Hp and 730Nm of Torque, which helps the car achieve 0-100 in 3.8 seconds which is a really quick time, even by supercar standards. It doesn’t have a multi-speed transmission, it has a direct drive transmission.

Let me remind you that this is a fully Electric Vehicle and it does not come with a Range Extender at this point in time. Voyah may introduce a version in the future that has a range extender but until they do, the users will have to make do with the range that the batteries offer. Speaking of the range, there are two battery options available. With both the options, the power of the vehicle remains the same, only the range is affected, and maybe the acceleration of the one with the bigger battery due to the increased weight.
One battery capacity is 82kWh, which the company claims will give you 580km of range, while the other one is 109kWh which the company claims will give you 730km of range. These numbers are calculated under the CLTC driving conditions, so the WLTC may fetch lower numbers. The batteries are liquid-cooled Ternary Lithium batteries.


The 82kWh variant is claimed to charge from 20% to 80% in 27 minutes when using a fast DC Charger while the 109kWh one is claimed to take 41 min using the same charger.

[Ovais]

Here, I would like to point out that this vehicle is based on the ESSA platform. What is the ESSA – (Electric Smart Secure Architecture) platform? Voyah has designed a rather modular platform that has the batteries installed right under the passenger cabin, flat under the floor, protected by a safety structure around them. This allows the vehicle to have quite large-capacity batteries stowed away in the chassis, allowing more space in the cabin and at the same time, lowering the car’s center of gravity, which improves the car’s stability and handling. The same platform was used in their earlier vehicles as well. Many of the newer electric cars follow a similar approach in placing the batteries.



Let’s move towards the inside of the vehicle. As soon as you enter the vehicle, you will notice a very contemporary design of the interior. Most of the interior is trimmed in Nappa Leather and some portions, including the seats are trimmed in an Eco-Friendly material called Dinamica. Dinamica is similar to Alcantara in the way it looks and feels but it is said to be a lot more environmentally friendly.







The first thing right in front of you is the steering wheel. It’s a Hexagonal shape, heated steering wheel. There are touch controls on the steering wheel for functions like Cruise Control, Stereo, Call etc.



Towards the center of the dashboard, you will notice 3 x 12.3-inch screens. These screens are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. The screen right behind the Hexagonal Steering wheel shows you all the vital information such as the car’s Speed, Range, Battery Level and other indication icons. It replaces a conventional cluster. Right above the steering wheel, you will also see the Heads-Up Display (HUD) which shows you the speed and other vital information. This HUD is very clearly visible even in harsh day light.




Through the center screen, you can access the navigation, voice commands, cameras, the car’s settings and what not. Speaking of cameras, the car has two cameras inside the cabin. One is a selfie camera, which also serves as a camera for the fatigue management system, which notifies you to take some rest if it detects that you are tired and have been driving for too long. You can also use this camera to video calls, record videos and use the filters like you normally would in a mobile phone.







The second camera is placed on the roof which is pointed towards the back seats. If found this feature very useful, especially if you have kids, you won’t have to turn around to keep an eye on them, you can just watch them on the center screen while driving.






Through this screen, you can also select the driving modes. There are 5 driving modes to choose from which have varying parameters for range, comfort, traction and the performance aspects of the vehicle. They are namely, Comfort, Economy, High Energy, Snow, Personalized.



Here, you can also access the car’s ADAS – Advanced Driving Assistance System. They call this system the V-Pilot Intelligent Driving Assist System. Using 12 Cameras, 5 Radars and 12 Ultrasonic Sensors, this ADAS helps in navigating the car through obstacles such as other vehicles on the road, provides semi-autonomous driving which includes automatic lane switching/ lane-keep assist, a high-level adaptive cruise control with emergency braking and autonomous parking. It shows the driver all this information and live video feed through the center screen and the screen behind the steering wheel.






The right most screen is the passenger’s dedicated screen where the passenger can watch movies and other media. What you are watching on this screen, can be dragged to the center screen easily.

[Ovais]

You will find another screen in the lower center part of the dashboard. Through this screen, you can control features like the car’s Air Conditioning, the Air Purification and Fragrance System, Adjust the Seat Positions and Massage Features and you can also adjust the Rear Spoiler from here. The Air-Purification System is claimed to be a Forest-Level Healthy Air Management System, not exactly sure what that means in terms of its effectiveness but it sounds healthy!





You can manually lower or raise the spoiler and adjust the speeds that the spoiler opens and closes at.



Right below this screen, you will also find the shift knob which is a large dial.



The center console has a 50-watt Wireless Charging Station where you can charge your mobile. Right next to it are cupholders.


Behind this, you will find a compartment whose top serves as an arm-rest. Inside this compartment, you will find quite a lot of space to put your stuff and it has USB-C and USB-A charging ports inside as well.



The seats are Heated and Cooled both, and wrapped in a combination of Nappa Leather and Dinamica. They hug you quite well when you sit in them. They give you a firm feel but at the same time, they seem quite comfortable. I drove the car for a little while and it felt quite comfortable during this time.






There is ambient lighting throughout the interior of the car. It’s mostly strategically hidden between areas where two pieces of the interior trim join but the most noticeable ambient lighting is the design element on the door trims. It’s a flowing design that starts from the front and is continued to the rear of the car as well. There are 256 colors to choose from, for the ambient lighting.




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The lower spec variants of the Chasing Light come with a 10 speaker, DynAudio Stereo System while the higher spec variant comes with a 14 Speaker DynAudio Stereo System. The most noticeable speakers are the ones in the doors as they are covered with a very uniquely-designed speaker grille.

[Ovais]

In the rear, as I mentioned before, being a long wheelbase car, it has a lot of legroom. It gives you the feeling that it was designed keeping in mind the people who like to be driven, like you would see in the BMW 7 series and the Audi A6.


The rear seats are also electric and their backs can be electrically adjusted and they can lean back quite a bit. These seats are also heated and cooled.





In the arm-rest, you will see a screen through which, you can use all the features meant for the rear of the cabin like the Air-Conditioning, Music, Seat Positioning, Panoramic Roof blinds etc.




The rear right seat is the place where you want to be the most. It has a leg rest which makes the seating position very comfortable for those long journeys. In addition, you can move the front right passenger seat forward for more leg room through the screen in the armrest. And boy does it give you legroom!




Active Pre-Tensioner Seatbelts, 8 Airbags and Air curtains, ABS, Traction Control and VSC are some of the most notable safety features among a list of other safety features.



Since there’s no engine in the front, this space is utilized as a storage compartment. There is decent amount of space available, 53 Liters to be precise.



The real space can be found in the rear trunk which is a 410-liter compartment.




Price: The price of the base variant of the vehicle starts at CNY 322,900 while the most expensive variant costs CNY 385,900. There are optional extras that you can add on top as well, of course for an additional charge.

You can place an order of the car through the VOYAH App. Through this app, you can select from the multiple cars that Voyah has to offer, the trim levels, interior color, exterior color and other material and design options and place an order.

[Ovais]

So, the final thoughts. The build-quality of the car gives a reasonably premium feel overall but there are some design cues that could’ve been made better as they give-off a slight feel of lower tier cars. The car that I got to experience was in light blue metallic with a grey colored interior. Sadly, I’m not a huge fan of both these colors for the exterior and the interior. I would prefer the same car in Black or Burnt Orange exterior color, both of which are available, and a black/orange interior color combination. That said, having driven the car, it has an excellent feel. The suspension is quite comfortable and absorbs the bumps really well. At the same time, it doesn’t give you the feeling of driving a boat as it is quite composed and firm, without a lot of body roll.

The acceleration is amazing with braking to suit and it does it all without the noise of an engine. Speaking of the engine, for me, the sound of an engine is quite important, especially if it’s a reasonably high horsepower car like this one. But driving this car on the road without any vibrations from the engine, I wouldn’t mind a daily driven vehicle which is this quite and smooth, yet it packs a punch if you need to flex.

The interior is quite well-insulated against noise. I drove the car at a time when there was a lot of traffic on the road and I could hardly hear any noise inside. The ADAS works really well and notifies me of my surroundings very efficiently. Overall, I would rate the vehicle quite well but that may change over the weeks once I’ve experienced more from its competitors, or maybe not!

I have a video for this car as well which shows an in-depth view of the vehicle and it’s features. I’m embedding that video below for you to enjoy.

https://youtu.be/VTX_K_0AGj0

[girishv]

Though a well written about a beautiful car, I am little confused here. What exactly is the purpose of this article? I do not think this will come to India any time soon and I do not see any major players trying to forge a partnership. If this is only to showcase a beautiful car, then we may end-up several posts dedicated for them.

I am sorry if my comments are inappropriate, but just trying to understand the purpose.

[Ovais]

Originally Posted by girishv

Though a well written about a beautiful car, I am little confused here. What exactly is the purpose of this article? I do not think this will come to India any time soon and I do not see any major players trying to forge a partnership. If this is only to showcase a beautiful car, then we may end-up several posts dedicated for them.

I am sorry if my comments are inappropriate, but just trying to understand the purpose.

Well, the only reason for sharing it here is to show what the Chinese manufacturers are coming up with. The Chinese manufacturers have been the underdogs in the automobile sector and rightly so. Even 4-5 years back, the cars produced in China were at least 2 decades behind the rest of the world. Recently however, as I've moved to China, I've found out that the automobile sector has taken a 180 degree turn and there are now some amazing cars produced by the Chinese. I'm just here sharing cars and their amazing features, coming out of what could be a major automobile supplier in the world in the future.

[bijims]

Originally Posted by Ovais

Well, the only reason for sharing it here is to show what the Chinese manufacturers are coming up with. The Chinese manufacturers have been the underdogs in the automobile sector and rightly so. Even 4-5 years back, the cars produced in China were at least 2 decades behind the rest of the world. Recently however, as I've moved to China, I've found out that the automobile sector has taken a 180 degree turn and there are now some amazing cars produced by the Chinese. I'm just here sharing cars and their amazing features, coming out of what could be a major automobile supplier in the world in the future.

Yes, I agree with you, here in Muscat too, Chinese cars have begun becoming best sellers with Changan, MG, and the like bringing in good numbers. Their cars look good, have all the necessary features, and are cheap as well. Definitely value for money! A few years ago, nobody would even consider them, now they are welcomed and are a regular sight on the roads. If the conditions in India weren't so prohibitive, MG and BYD would have been instant successes were they able to bring their best portfolio to India. they could have been able to produce Value for money cars that the competition couldn't even dream of, but the restrictions of the government curtailing Chinese investments and the like have curtailed their growth to a major extent. Moreover, the anti-China sentiment is also not in their favor.

P.S. I am not supportive of the Chinese manufacturers nor am I against the government's policies.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by girishv

What exactly is the purpose of this article?

I am sorry if my comments are inappropriate, but just trying to understand the purpose.

1. On Team-BHP, we usually prefer it this way = if you don't have anything nice to say about an OP's efforts, better not to say anything at all .

2. Many of us closely follow the global car scene and like to stay abreast of developments. China is the global king of EVs today. Threads & Previews such as these tell us what's hot, what's not and a lot about the local car scene there.

3. If the thread doesn't interest you, there are about 200,000 other discussions on Team-BHP that you can browse .

@ Ovais: beautiful report. Thank you for sharing! We will add it to our homepage in the coming days.

[puntra800]

Chinese have upped their game in manufacturing ,I am not sure about the mechanicals of this car but clearly they have aced the software and electronics in this car. What does not work for the Chinese manufacturers are the pre conceived notion that "Chinese Maal" is not good when investing on expensive products. I believe it holds good even in phones as well, the Chinese manufacturers do make decent phones but they are yet to crack the premium end of the market since people hesitate to spend on them and same holds good for the cars as well, had the Hector or the Gloster in India been priced say around the 15Lakh on Road it would have sold like hot cakes and people would have even gloated about their cars as well like how people gloat over the features in Korean twins(I doubt people use even 50% of those features).

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by GTO

1. On Team-BHP, we usually prefer it this way = if you don't have anything nice to say about an OP's efforts, better not to say anything at all .

2. Many of us closely follow the global car scene and like to stay abreast of developments. China is the global king of EVs today. Threads & Previews such as these tell us what's hot, what's not and a lot about the local car scene there.

3. If the thread doesn't interest you, there are about 200,000 other discussions on Team-BHP that you can browse .

@ Ovais: beautiful report. Thank you for sharing! We will add it to our homepage in the coming days.

GTO, Thank you. You spoke my heart. Very well put. Last night when I saw this thread, I gave myself a mental note to pen down exactly such a post in the AM only to find you said it better. It needed to be said. Prejudice is not to be encouraged.

All,

Whether we like the Chinese or not they are roaring ahead in every respect in car design and manufacture. They are already leading in EVs in some respects. It is only a matter of time when some lead designs pioneer in China rather than in the West. Only a matter of time. The whole EV scene will upend a lot of accepted positions, hierarchies, listings and notions of what is good and what is great.

[JojyKerala]

Originally Posted by Ovais

Voyah is the luxury brand of the very popular vehicle manufacturer in China, the Dongfeng Motor Corporation.

Thank you for the excellent write-up, Ovais.

I've never heard of VOYAH or Dongfeng before but your article shows the strides some Chinese brands have made in the automotive sector. Looks like this vehicle is packed with some impressive features, including the extra screen at the bottom to control air conditioning.

Looking forward to more of your write-ups. And I've subscribed to Funcari as well.

[the_real_slager]

Originally Posted by Ovais

So, the final thoughts. The build-quality of the car gives a reasonably premium feel overall but there are some design cues that could’ve been made better as they give-off a slight feel of lower tier cars.

Beautifully written and well detailed. I have always been curious about the auto scene in China and your writings give a first hand view of it.

Appreciate your effort and please keep sharing more about your experiences, automotive or otherwise from there.

Regards,
Kiron

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Whether we like the Chinese or not they are roaring ahead in every respect in car design and manufacture. They are already leading in EVs in some respects. It is only a matter of time when some lead designs pioneer in China rather than in the West. Only a matter of time.

Correct. I was in Shanghai a few weeks ago. This was after 8 yrs. back in 2015, I was finding my amusement spotting 'Copy-Cars' of which there were plenty.

This time around, I was in awe of the strides they have made to move away from the copy-car segment. Truth be told, I was in Shanghai and most of the copy-car market has moved away from the big cities.

There were a generous sprinkling of European and Japanese cars but more importantly, sharing the same space on the roads, were several Chinese cars which, I must admit, have started to look attractive. Squint and one can always find quirks here and there but all-in-all, they are getting there in the Big leagues.

Originally Posted by JojyKerala

I've never heard of VOYAH or Dongfeng before but your article shows the strides some Chinese brands have made in the automotive sector.

Trust me, there are more new car companies sprouting up in China than we can keep a track of. by the way, these are words of my Chinese friends who I hung around with during my trip.