Chery has just presented in China a radical prototype called Gene. Believe it or not, this car likely heralds a new design language for the brand. It seems excessive to us, since the Asian manufacturer is “fresh” in the designs seen in the range Tiggo Pro and in the Omoda 5, but hey, that’s how the Chinese are, the designs don’t last long; they are like him fast fashion of automotive design.
In the case of Gene there are several interesting things, because there are certain elements, elegantly crafted, but with a ‘retro-futuristic’ flavor. This is apparent in the thick LED lights that wrap around the front and rear of the model. At first glance, it looks like a bracelet with a central ornament, which is precisely where we find the Chery logo. This luminous element is inscribed in a large glossy black oval mask, from which six luminous stripes emerge, highlighting the illuminated belt and the Chery logo, which also lights up. The lower part is very minimalist and only reveals a flat spoiler that curves on the sides, as if they were fins or “air curtains”.
The body of the Gene is almost ‘raw’, in a satin matt color and devoid of all kinds of creases, as if it had been molded in one piece, with some minor cuts to shape the door sills and to mark the steps of the car. wheel, but nothing else. Even the turbine-type wheels remind us of models from the 80s.
The back is really volume heavy, with a huge rear bumper, the same light set that we saw ahead, but red and the absence of a rear glass. In fact, if we took out the cabin and reversed the lights, it would look like a small delivery van.
Of course, the magic of such a crude and minimalist design is that all the tricks of the car are hidden until the user pays attention to them or requires their function. For example, what looks like a single door, are actually two doors, where the rear ones have inverted openingleaving room for four occupants with a shortened steering wheel and a large 27-inch screen with the system Chery Galaxy Ecosystem, which offers two modes: driving and “metaverse” (autonomous). The mysterious front opens and there houses two drones and two electric skateboards while in the back there is also room for another two skates plus. This is because you can use these means to move around the city and use the drones as reconnaissance modules and even with virtual reality (VR) support.
At five meters long and nearly two meters wide, it’s a big car. The brand does not indicate anything regarding its propulsion system or batteries, but if they give it the green light, we will surely see a more decaffeinated version for mass production, with one of the brand’s propellants.
