Wuling’s commercial vehicle brand Linxys makes South-east Asia debut in Singapore with Carsome subsidiary CarTimes

The brand debuts with two electric vans, including the city-state’s first fully electric micro van

Linxys, a fully electric China commercial vehicle brand from state-owned carmaker Wuling, has made its South-east Asia debutin Singapore on Tuesday (Nov 11). It launched in the Republic with authorised distributor Quantum EV and sole authorised dealer CarTimes.

Pang Song Lin, Wuling New Energy Vehicle’s regional manager for South-east Asia, Hong Kong and Macao, said that Singapore marks Linxys’ first entry point into the region, and that it sees strong potential in neighbouring markets.

Asean is an important region in the brand’s global expansion roadmap, he added, and the company is actively studying opportunities in several regional markets where government support and infrastructure for new-energy vehicles are developing rapidly.

Sample vehicles have already been exported to markets such as Malaysia, Philippines, Laos and Thailand. Further announcements will be made when plans are formalised.

Linxys is a new commercial vehicle brand from China launched by state-owned automotive manufacturer Wuling in 2023. Like other automotive brands from the country, it is focused on overseas expansion including in Asia-Pacific.

Founded in 2023, Linxys is a subsidiary of Guangxi Automobile Group (GAG). Formerly known as Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, it is controlled by the administration of the Guangxi region of China.

GAG is the parent of Wuling New Energy Vehicle, a manufacturer that specialises in building EVs and hybrids. GAG is also minority shareholder in the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture, a major car manufacturer in China that produces passenger cars under the Wuling brand name.

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The brand introduced two electric light commercial vehicles to Singapore at the launch. Both of which are vans costing S$98,800 with a Category C Certificate of Entitlement.

The G100R – a small van with a length of 4.5 m – has a range of 252 km, cargo space of 5.2 square metres (sq m) and maximum payload of 1,120 kg.

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It also introduced the G050 Piccolo, the first EV in Singapore that competes in the micro van segment. The van is 3.4 m long, has a cargo space of 2.5 sq m and maximum payload of 350 kg.

CarTimes will also introduce a version with a second row of seats that can be registered as a goods-cum-passenger vehicle to individuals or companies.

Micro vans – also known as kei vans – are typically from Japanese manufacturers and petrol powered, including models such as the Suzuki Every and Honda N-Van.

Eric Chan, chief operating officer and president of Carsome, told The Business Times that the move was part of group efforts to diversify beyond used cars and into new segments and that it would consider the dealership of more brands “if it makes sense”.

In 2022, Malaysia-based, South-east Asia used car platform Carsome acquired a majority stake in CarTimes, the Singapore-based automotive group retailer of new and used cars.

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