Summer “new thing”: Skywell will soon bring the HT-i hybrid crossover to Russia

According to the plan, the model will expand the Chinese brand's local lineup by the end of next month. The SUV will be offered in three trim levels — Comfort, Premium and Luxury.

The «Celestial» brand Skywell announced its entry into the Russian market in September last year, and a month later the first-born was presented, its role was played by a five-seater all-electric crossover ET5 (we talked about it in more detail earlier). Later, the novelty received OTTS and went on sale in the Russian market. Now it has become known that the local lineup will be expanded with the Skywell HT-i SUV.

On the photo: hybrid crossover Skywell HT-i

The crossover was introduced in China in March 2022, however, under the Skyworth brand (both brands are part of the Skyworth Group diversified holding). In fact, it is a modification of the ET5 SUV already presented in the Russian Federation: only it is a rechargeable hybrid, not an electric car.

The models have the same silhouette, the same headlights, sidewalls and taillights with taillights, even the design of the rims did not change. Only the lower part of the front bumper with other air intakes, as well as the radiator grille, painted in body color, are decorated differently. The length of the hybrid SUV is 22 mm longer than the electric version and is 4720 mm. The remaining dimensions have not changed: the width is 1908 mm, the height is 1701 mm, and the distance between the axles is 2800 mm; clearance — the same 146 mm.

The interior of the hybrid is almost the same as that of the Skywell ET5, with a 12.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the center of the front panel, and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster in front of the driver's eyes. In the list of differences, only the graphics of this digital instrument panel. As part of the announcement, the local office said that Skywell HT-i will be offered in Russia in three trim levels — Comfort, Premium and Luxury. Their equipment will be announced closer to the start of sales.

The crossover promised to the Russians received a hybrid power plant, which is based on a 1.5-liter naturally aspirated gasoline developed by BYD. Its output from the version for the Russian market is 103 hp. It works in tandem with a 176-horsepower electric motor, which is located on the front axle. The company has not declassified the total output of this system.

In the photo: the interior of the Skywell ET5 electric crossover

Skywell HT-i in the Comfort and Premium versions were equipped with a traction battery with a capacity of 21.7 kWh, while the top-end Luxury version has a larger battery — 32.8 kWh. When driving in a purely electric mode, the range of the hybrid in the first case is 81 km, and in the second — 145 km (the calculation was carried out according to the WLTP cycle). The crossovers need 7.9 and 8.2 seconds to accelerate from standstill to “hundreds”, respectively. The maximum speed is the same for all variants — 170 km/h.

Skywell HT-i prices will also appear closer to the start of sales. Note that for the basic electric crossover Skywell ET5 of 2023, they ask for at least 4.48 million rubles, and the top version of this model will cost at least 5.05 million rubles.