ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 73
REVIEW
FARIZON V7E
Easy electric
driving: The lowslung battery and
instant response
solves some longheld diesel
driving gripes
tuned out as background noise, making it
effectively useless.
Drivers will likely choose the latter
option, as the controls for the ADAS
systems are split between two separate
menus in the decidedly confusing
infotainment system, which appears to
have been translated by an unpaid intern
on a Friday afternoon.
This is the V7E’s issue: the
fundamentals are all there, it is just
lacking that last bit of finesse.
With a little bit more calibration, and
some minor suspension setup changes,
this could really be a best-in-class van.
We did not test an early prototype:
Farizon has been delivering V7Es to UK
customers since July, and the van has
been on sale in China for over a year.
Unbeatable value
Though it does frustrate at times, the
value proposition is clear. With a saving
of over £10,000 compared with electric
vans from legacy manufacturers, as well
as extremely competitive specifications,
many of these faults can be ignored.
At present, the van that comes the
closest to the V7E is the Maxus eDELIVER
5. It matches the 67kWh Farizon on range
and payload, and comes close on cargo
volume, at 6.6 cubic metres. However,
it costs a full £4,600 more, placing it
around halfway between the V7E and its
legacy brand rivals.
Arguably, the V7E’s biggest challenge
will come at the end of the year, when
Ford’s Transit City goes on sale.
It is down 250kg of payload and 0.5
cubic metres of cargo volume compared
with the 50kWh Farizon, but comes
with the weight of the Transit name and
the benefit of Ford’s extensive dealer
network, all at a price premium of
just £500.
Fine-tuning
None of this means that the V7E should
be counted out just yet. The Chinese
brands have proven themselves
both willing and able to quickly
refine their products in response to
customer feedback.
Almost all of our gripes with the van –
the ADAS systems, the throttle response
and the infotainment system – could be
fixed through a software update, making
it entirely possible that the frustrated
Farizon buyer could wake up one day
with all of their irritations resolved.
The issue of ride quality could be a
quick fix too, though physical changes
would be needed.
Much has been made of China’s
speed in bringing new products to
market, with multiple legacy OEMs now
slashing development timelines in a bid
to compete.
However, even a quick drive in the
V7E proves that this may be an unwise
move, and could result in established
manufacturers ceding one of their
final advantages – especially if they
are not able to resolve post-release
gripes quickly.
In the meantime, the Farizon V7E is a
credible alternative to the medium van
establishment, with genuinely unmatched
value. The frustrating thing is, the V7E
could so easily be a genuine worldbeater, a van that makes its case on
capability, a true shock to the system, if
it had spent just a few months more in
development.
Q4 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
73
