The JY Air was launched in Thailand in December, but the ongoing Bangkok Motor Show gave us our first look at this intriguing one-box electric liftback. You see, the car is the product not of a traditional carmaker but of JuneYao Airlines, and the company is leaning hard on its mile-high background by claiming that the Air was inspired by “the experience of a transoceanic flight.”
To wit, JuneYao says the car’s C-shaped headlights, which feature up to 240 LEDs, are akin to lights at the ends of a jetliner’s wings, while the sweeping roofline apparently brings to mind “the skyline seen during night flights.” At the back, the Air sports full-width OLED taillights, neatly integrated below the rear windscreen. It certainly looks aerodynamic thanks to its streamlined form, borne out by a drag coefficient of just 0.23.
Inside, the Air is far less distinctive, with a typically minimalist interior that rather reminiscent of the Xpeng G6. This is particularly visible through the two-spoke oblong steering wheel and the tall centre console with the twin phone holders (one of which houses a 50-watt Qi wireless charger), cupholders and armrest lid button all in exactly the same positions.
Dominating proceedings is a 15.6-inch freestanding infotainment touchscreen, which can be rotated in 15 steps to face the driver or passenger, runs on a Crystal OS and the ubiquitous Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, and will greet occupants with the phrase “welcome on board.”
JuneYao claims that over 75% of the Air’s cabin is wrapped in soft-touch materials, including the available faux leather upholstery on the seats. There’s also a large panoramic glass roof with an area of two square metres, which should help make the interior – likely already plenty roomy enough thanks to the generous 2,800 mm wheelbase – feel even more, um, Air-y.
Two variants will be offered, these being the Standard and Plus. The former utilises a single front motor making 204 PS (150 kW) and 250 Nm of torque, getting the Air from zero to 100 km/h in under 7.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 km/h.
Also fitted is a 51 kWh CATL lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery that provides a range of up to 430 km on the somewhat lenient NEDC cycle. Stepping up to the Plus, meanwhile, nets you a slightly more powerful motor that pushes out 216 PS (159 kW), as well as a larger 64 kWh battery that enables the Air to travel up to 520 km on a single charge.
The range-topper also supports up to 138 kW of DC fast charging power (only 70 kW for the Standard), saving ten minutes when topping up the battery from 30 to 80% (20 instead of 30 minutes). Both variants accept up to 11 kW of AC charging, so charging the Air from 10 to 100% takes 5.3 hours for the Standard and 6.5 hours for the Plus.
Aside from the technical specs, the Plus is differentiated by a black roof, 19-inch alloy wheels and the aforementioned wireless charger and panoramic glass roof. It also benefits from having seven airbags (including a front centre airbag) compared to just two for the Standard.
Both models come with a full complement of driver assists such as autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane centring assist and speed limit assist, with the Plus adding blind spot monitoring, rear collision warning, rear cross traffic alert with auto brake, a driver attention monitor and a door opening warning.
Competing against entry-level electric sedans such as the GAC Aion ES, the Air is priced starting from 759,000 baht (RM99,300) for the Standard, rising up to 869,000 baht (RM113,600) for the Plus. Those figures were supposed to go up to 899,000 baht (RM116,600) and 1,018,000 baht (RM132,100) respectively after December 30, but a perusal of JuneYao Auto’s website shows that the promo pricing still applies.
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