Dongfeng's premium Voyah makes inroads into Europe

Voyah said Thursday it will unveil an SUV in Norway in June this year, as the premium electric marque of State-owned carmaker Dongfeng starts to explore overseas markets.

The marque said its first overseas store will be built in Oslo, capital of the European country, and deliveries of the range-extended SUV, called FREE, will start in the fourth quarter this year.

The SUV, which is Voyah's first model, is the approximately the size of the Audi Q7, BMX X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE, among others.

Its sales in China have exceeded 10,000 units since hitting the market in June 2021. Voyah's second model will be an MPV. The carmaker said it will launch at least one model a year.

Voyah did not say what will be the second model in Norway, from where it will expand its European sales network that cover more countries.

Norway is a gateway to Europe for Chinese EV manufacturers. Nio chose Norway as its first stop in the continent as well.

New energy vehicles are becoming a new driving force of China's vehicle exports, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Statistics show that over 2 million vehicles were shipped into international markets last year from China, with NEVS accounting for roughly one third of the total.