CSC25 - WUZHOU EXPORT [五洲出口]
Q1 2020
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WUZHOU, GUANGXI AUTONOMOUS REGION, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
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Mei Ling has been running strong in Wuzhou and through the rest of China since the early '80s. Their most successful vehicle so far has been the QY-Series SUV - a staple workhorse for the region’s working class.
Initially partsourced from the Mitsubishi Pajero, the full-size SUV has long evolved from its history of rusty frames and snapping brake lines, while the ancient 4.0-litre inline 6 has been replaced by smaller inline 4 and v6 units.
Simultaneously, the SUV has also inched further towards being a bit more on the comfortable side than just purely barebones, for the sake of reeling in sales from the middle class family.
It is now 2020 and the 7-year refresh cycle of the QY-Series is now a year overdue. The department has been swamped with work on a new compact crossover, while juggling the rest of the other model year refreshes at once.
TASK & SUGGESTIONS
Wuzhou Mei Ling Automotive Corporation is seeking design concepts internationally to obtain inspiration for the next QY-Series, codenamed “QY7”. This is purely a design round. Suggestions are as follows:
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The design should emanate a sense of ruggedness from it. Mei Ling’s QY-Series is widely used in emergency, construction and delivery fleets which need to go off-road more than usual. Do NOT make a straight-up family crossover OR OVERDO THE OFFROAD ASPECT.
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This is a vehicle that will be priced as high as 160,000 CNY (~23,000 USD; 30,000 CAD; 17,800 GBP). It is expected to look like a CHINESE car in that price range, which still manage to look upscale in said range regardless. In other words, don’t skimp out on the chrome and don’t be afraid to use LED elements here and there!
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The Mei Ling QY-Series is a mid to full-size SUV about the size of a Prado. The newest QY-Series platform will consist of a ladder framed double-wishbone front, solid axle rear, suspension setup with 4-wheel drive. Note that it will also have 7-8 seats in it. Make it look the part with respect to these.
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Don’t go too avant-garde with the design, but definitely don’t go too conservative either. This is a balancing act which is hard to pin down specifically what I want. Gut check will tell you everything.
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Research, research, research! Autohome and XCar both have wonderful websites for newer Chinese cars. The likes of the GAC and Haval are only scratching the surface of what is in the oversaturated Chinese SUV market.
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Make the vehicle look modern. If it looks like a retro facelift, you’ve got the whole idea wrong.
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This round will be judged holistically. Don’t focus on these with a toilet paper roll. Just consider them to guide you in the right direction
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
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The vehicle MUST be on an SUV body which can comfortably house 8 seats. The SUV body used on the 2nd gen is the typical approach but if you can make something work on something else, surprise me.
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Follow the naming convention as per usual:
Model: CSC25 - [YOUR FORUM USERNAME]
Trim: Mei Ling [YOUR DESIGN FIRM NAME] QY7 Concept
Engine: CSC25 - [YOUR FORUM USERNAME]
Variant: FREE
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DM the .car file to me and post a photo of your design as a reply below. It helps to look at the design for first impressions.
PAST MODELS AND INSPIRATION
Past models of the QY-Series and other Mei Ling vehicles can be found on the Mei Ling forum.
Their latest model is the 2015-present XR5, but DO NOT use it as a design guide for obvious reasons.
Other inspirations can be found from the search results of this Autohome query, as well as this XCar entry.
The badge is very easy to make. It’s essentially a square and thick vertical centreline in a circle.
