2023 Exeed Yaoguang spotted in Quezon City

It looks like there will be another new car brand that will be introduced in the country very soon. In fact, one of its upcoming models was recently spotted being tested on public roads.

Car enthusiast Franklin Lu sent us a photo of this curious SUV spotted cruising along A. Bonifacio Avenue in Quezon City early this Monday morning on his way to work. It does not look like any other crossover currently in the market, so it is probably undergoing testing with only the badges covered, so we can assume it will be released soon. With the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) coming up in a couple of weeks, we can only make a good assumption that it may be launched there. We quickly identified the mysterious vehicle as the Exeed Yaoguang. It is a crossover SUV made by Chery in Wuhu, China, and was launched recently.

The Yaoguang is based on the M3X platform jointly developed by Chery and Magna International. Under the hood is Chery's ACTECO 2.0-liter TDGI turbo inline-four that sends 261 PS and 400 Nm of torque to a front-wheel or all-wheel drive via a seven-speed wet dual-clutch transmission or an eight-speed automatic transmission. A plug-in hybrid is already in the works.

Inside, international versions of the Yaoguang come with leather upholstery, and a 24.6-inch curved dual-screen system (two 12.3-inch monitors side by side) using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. It also has a panoramic sunroof, a 14-speaker system, electronically-adjustable footrests, a built-in headrest audio system, five modes of back massage, and the rear backrests can recline by seven degrees.

As a high-end model, the Yaoguang has an advanced driving assistance system that supports 21 basic and 11 advanced functions, including driver identification and valet parking.

You may have noticed Chery is mentioned a few times in this article. The reason is that Exeed is Chery’s premium automotive division, like Lexus to Toyota and Infiniti to Nissan. The first Exeed model was the LX launched in China in 2018. It was followed by the TX mid-size SUV, the VX (full-size SUV), and the Yaoguang mid-size crossover you see here. To give you an idea of the Yaoguang’s size, it is bigger and has a longer wheelbase than the Tiggo 8 Pro.

Who will the local distributor be? We can only speculate, although the conduction sticker is a giveaway. The ‘I0’ has been designated for Chery vehicles brought into the country. If we follow that logic, Exeed will be under UAAGI (United Asia Automotive Group, Inc.) in the Philippines, the same group handling Chery and Foton.

Watch this space for more updates.