The Star Era is a new high-end series in the field of new energy by Star Road. The first car under this series, the Star Era ES, has already been officially launched. The second model in the Star Era series, the Star Era ET, has also been officially produced at Chery’s production base. It is positioned as a mid-sized SUV and is expected to be officially launched in the first quarter of this year, becoming the flagship product alongside the Star Era ES. With a focus on family design, we got an early look at its static performance before its launch.
In terms of appearance, the Star Era ET adopts the family’s “aesthetic of wind” design concept. The front of the car uses an X-shaped design, with a closed grille that is more simple and round. The top is equipped with a continuous LED light strip, enhancing the overall visual width of the car.
In terms of headlights, the Star Era ET also uses a split-type headlight design, with a distinctive family look. Like the Star Era ES, the Star Era ET is also equipped with ISD wind language interactive lights, which support custom programming for text, battery information, weather forecasts, and OTA upgrades for more scene patterns.
Furthermore, the front of the car is equipped with an IGS active intake grille, which effectively reduces wind resistance.
It is worth mentioning that there is a silhouette of a family of four under the front windshield, and the details are all conveying to us that the Star Era ET is a product for family users.
The body side lines are simple and smooth, and the waist line that starts to rise from the front fender creates a diving posture on the side, enhancing a more sporty visual effect. Compared to other cars in the same class, the roof line of the Star Era ET is more gentle, allowing rear passengers to have ample head space, which is in line with its family-oriented design concept.
In addition, the car roof is equipped with a laser radar and will be equipped with NEP full-scene navigation function.
In terms of details, the new car also adopts mainstream designs such as hidden door handles and frameless doors, and both the front and rear wheels are equipped with double-layer laminated glass, which will be more helpful for the quietness of the car cabin.
In terms of wheels, the real car model uses 21-inch large low-drag wheels, and the design of multiple spokes looks more classy. The matching Michelin PS series electric vehicle special tires are 265/45 R21. The body size of the new car is 4955/1975/1698mm, with a wheelbase of 3000mm. Positioned as a large pure electric SUV.
The rear end design adopts a simple and clean style, with wide shoulders for a more substantial visual effect. The high-gloss black paint on the rear bumper complements the front end, creating a more refined visual effect. The glossy black roof spoiler enhances the sporty feel.
The taillights also use a through-type light group, and the turn signals on both sides have a flowing dynamic effect.
In the interior, the Star Era ET adopts the concept of super comfortable home design, incorporating home elements such as smart large screens, mobile bars, cabinets, and leisure recliners into the car space, integrating multiple light sources, high-end environmentally friendly and healthy decorative materials, and creating a comfortable, luxurious, reassuring, and smart home. The neatly arranged T-shaped layered floating central control console and the stylish double-spoke multifunction steering wheel, combined with the suspended large-size LCD screen, create a more comfortable and stylish cabin atmosphere. In addition, the new car also offers three interior color options. The 15.6-inch 2.5K suspended large-size LCD screen brings a better sense of technology to the interior.
Compared to the embedded instrument design of Star Era ES, Star Era ET adopts a suspended instrument panel with a larger screen size, which can also display a wealth of driving information.
In terms of materials, the interior of the car is largely wrapped in soft and leather materials, and wood materials are equipped on the platform of the central control console, plus light-colored interior color matching, creating a strong home atmosphere in the interior.
The electric car window control buttons are now popular with a lever-style design, which looks more classy and is more intuitive to operate compared to traditional window buttons. I think it’s a great design.
The Star Era ET also offers multi-color ambient lights and multiple mode adjustments. In addition, the car is equipped with a three-scent fragrance system. Overall, the luxury ambiance of the Star Era ET interior is quite well done.
In terms of smart configuration, the Star Era ET will be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 smart cockpit platform and the Lion AI large model voice assistant MateGPT, which is all-scenario, self-learning, and evolvable, supporting intelligent voice interaction in four sound areas, visible and speakable, cabin online entertainment, smart navigation, remote control via mobile app, multi-scene mode, OTA upgrade, and other functions. In addition, it also supports Huawei Haicar and Apple Carplay mobile interconnection functions.
In actual experience, the multimedia screen operates smoothly and the overall UI design is more like a tablet, easy to use, and the screen display is clear enough. When it comes to car entertainment systems, there is no need to worry about Star Era ET.
In other configurations, the new car also comes with an electrically movable armrest, officially called the “Star Move Bar”, which can slide to any position front or rear. In the traditional position, there is still ample space in the front to place a backpack. When the Star Move Bar is moved to the furthest position, it creates an “intimate space” with no barriers in the front row. If the parking space is narrow on the driver’s side, after parking, the driver can easily move from the main driver’s seat to the passenger seat and get out. The front row is also equipped with a dual 60W wireless fast charging panel for mobile phones, with charging speed surpassing many wired chargers.
The seats of the Star Era ET are soft and comfortable, with a wide range of adjustments, making it easy to find a comfortable sitting position. In terms of functionality, the model we tested also comes with seat ventilation/heating/massage functions. In addition, the driver’s seat is equipped with headrest speakers, so using the navigation system won’t disturb other passengers in the car.
It is worth mentioning that the Star Era ET is equipped with a co-pilot zero-gravity seat, which can achieve one-touch zero pressure reclining, allowing the body to reach the optimal relaxation state; combined with full-featured functions such as heating, ventilation, massage, and memory, it provides the co-pilot with the ultimate luxury experience.
The rear seats also support four-way electric adjustment, and the backrest angle of the rear seats can be adjusted steplessly from 115 degrees to 129 degrees, providing a comfortable sitting environment for rear passengers.
Furthermore, the rear seats are equipped with independent touch screens, which can control multimedia, seats, and air conditioning functions in the rear seats.
The Star Era ET has received the “CN95 Healthy Cabin” certification from China Automotive Research. The interior uses luxurious genuine leather, real wood, and genuine aluminum and other high-end environmentally friendly materials. It has achieved A-level certification in the 5 dimensions of “fresh air, antibacterial and anti-mold, healthy materials, electromagnetic cleanliness, and low noise and sound insulation.” At the same time, it is equipped with the self-developed DHS health monitoring function, which can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, and generate reports regularly to fully protect the health of family users.
In terms of audio, the Star Era ET will also be equipped with the Lion Melody Max sound system, with a 7.1.4 channel panoramic sound and a 2140W high-power amplifier. The Golden Ears tuning team has conducted exclusive tuning for the Star Era ET for over a thousand hours, achieving a balanced three-frequency, transparent high frequency, full-bodied midrange, warm vocals, solid and powerful bass, and a natural and broad sound field. In the intelligent driving part, the Star Era ET is equipped with 30 high-performance sensors and 508 TOPS computing power, capable of realizing NEP full-scene intelligent driving assistance functions. Star Era claims that its intelligent driving level is in the first tier of the industry, fully meeting various intelligent driving scenarios. I am also looking forward to its intelligent driving experience.
The Star Era ET is positioned as a large 5-seater SUV, with a length of nearly 5 meters and a wheelbase of 3 meters, so the space performance is excellent. After adjusting my driving position at a height of 1.9 meters, there is more than a fist’s distance in the head and leg space in the rear row, and the space is very spacious.
The size of the storage compartment in the car door handle is just right for a smartphone, making it easy to reach. The ergonomics are well done.
In terms of the trunk, for a mid-sized SUV with a size close to 5 meters, there is no need to worry about trunk space. The trunk is very well organized in the regular state, and the rear seats also support electric folding function. Additionally, there is a 12V power supply interface inside.
Under the trunk floor, there is hidden storage space for small items that are not often used. Folding down the rear seats creates a large and flat storage space with better expandability.
In addition, the car model we shot has a spacious front trunk, showing good practicality.
In terms of power, the Star Journey Star Genesis ET is built on an 800V high-voltage electrical platform and will offer two power configurations: pure electric and extended range. According to the application information, the pure electric version uses dual-motor all-wheel drive, with a maximum power of 183kW for the front axle motor and 230kW for the rear axle motor, and the overall power may exceed 500 horsepower. In terms of batteries, the new car will use NEDC 4C Shenxing ultra-fast charging batteries, paired with the all-round 800V platform, and can recharge 400km of range in 10 minutes. The pure electric version has a maximum range of 760km; the extended range version has a pure electric range of 200+km and a comprehensive range of 1500+km.
In terms of chassis suspension, the Star Era ET is expected to adopt a lightweight steel-aluminum body and full-aluminum chassis, equipped with front double wishbone independent suspension + rear five-link independent suspension system, intelligent cloud platform air suspension, and CDC electromagnetic damping shock absorption system, referring to the product strategy of the Star Era ES. In terms of sales, the Star Era brand exceeded the annual sales target of 80,000 vehicles set at the beginning of the year in 2023, with a total cumulative sales of 125,521 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 134.9%. Annual sales exceeded 100,000. With the launch of the flagship products Star Era ES and Star Era ET under the Star Era series, it also marks the comprehensive advancement of Star Era in 2023, officially entering the mainstream high-end automobile brand competition circle.