Neta X

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, Neta Auto, launches its highly-anticipated 2024 release, the Neta X.

A second all-electric SUV for the Malaysian market, it slots in as a C-segment contender, rivalling the BYD Atto 3 EV crossover.

Fully-imported (CBU - China), available are three variants (400 Comfort - MYR 119,888, 400 Luxury - MYR 127,888, 500 Luxury - MYR 135,888).

Prices (OTR, w/o insurance) cover a five-year/150,000 KM vehicle warranty and an eight-year/180,000 KM electric drive warranty.

Five exterior colours (Pearl White, Sky Grey, Jet Black, Glacier Blue, Amber Brown). Two interior colours (Black, Brown).

Simple, the Neta X adopts a sleek, modern and tiered dashboard design, linked to a high-rising centre console (gear-deleted). 

A soft-/hard-touch fitment, it sees a two-tone colour scheme featuring two colour options (Black-Black, Brown-Black) with Silver/Gold (Black/Brown) details.

Centre-staged is a floating infotainment unit, flanked by a frameless driver display. Filling-in the space are hexagonal shaped air-conditioning vents.

Overall, the layout is neatly- and airily-organised, with accessibilities being driver-oriented and user-friendly.

Seamlessly-frameless, fitted for the driver is an 8.9-Inch digital instrument cluster.

Lively, the interior of the five-seater is upholstered in leatherette, with contrast stitching piping and diamond-patterned stitching floor section.

Featured is a single-tone colour scheme with two colour options (Black, Brown). The door panels see a two-tone colour scheme (dash-matching).

Comfortable, fitted is the Ergonomic Zero Gravity Seat, featuring sport seats (front) and a bench (rear) seat.

The front gets electric-power (driver, passenger - six-way) with memory/welcome functions (driver - 400 Luxury, 500 Luxury). The rear (60:40 split-fold).

Included are armrests (front - centre console, rear - centre fold-out), headrests (front, rear), and a panoramic glass sunroof (electric - tilt/slide, sunshade).

The e-SUV (compact crossover) provides comfortable seatings with generous head-, shoulder- and leg-room for all five occupants. 

Overall interior mobility is sufficient with 1,765 MM of cabin space (838 MM - front, 927 MM - rear).

Mounted is a three-spoke-flat-bottom steering wheel, wrapped in dual-tone (Black-interior dependent) colour leatherette with Silver details.

Features are multi-switches (Bluetooth, media, vehicle settings, voice control), electronic column shifter, and column adjustments (manual - tilt, telescopic).

Aiding the drive is an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system.

Several practical spaces available. E.g., centre console caverned/partitioned spaces, a glove box, and seat back/side door pockets.

Provided are four cup holders (two - front, rear) and four bottle holders (one - side doors).

Installed are one 12 V power socket (front), two USB-A/USB-C ports (one set - front, rear), and one wireless charger (front - 400 Luxury, 500 Luxury).

Also included is a Vehicle-To-Load (V2L) charging system, providing up to 3,300 W/3.3 KW of output for other external electronics’ powering needs.

Accessing its (400 Luxury, 500 Luxury) powered-tailgate (contactless - remote/key fob) opens up to 508-Litres (rear seats up) and 1,300-Litres (rear seats down) of load capacities.

The Neta X measures at 4,619 MM long, 1,860 MM wide, 1,628 MM tall, and with a wheelbase spanning 2,770 MM.

A sporty and streamlined silhouette, it parades an exterior with smooth-angularly-sculpted contours in a continuous design.

The front-end sees a clean bonnet/fenders, framing a grille-less bumper with corner cut-outs and a central lower intake.

Accentuations are the Neta emblem (Chrome), lower body claddings (Black - front lip, fenders, side sills), and window surrounds/side mirrors/roof rails (Black).

A seamless and sharp outlook, it exudes a horizontally-angular and borderline boxy design, dominantly seen on the middle section.

The rear-end sees a coupe-esque roofline with a roof-edge spoiler, mildly-muscular quarter panels and a protruding bumper, framing a tiered-like tailgate.

Accentuations are the Neta emblem (Chrome), lower body claddings (Black - diffuser, fenders, side sills), and side mirrors/window surrounds/D-pillars/roof rails (Black).

Slim- and fiercely-framed, the inward-tilted headlamps donate the front with a more focused and athletic outlook. Installed are full LED units.

Features are LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL), automatic On/Off, Follow-Me-Home-Light, High Beam Assist (HBA - 400 Luxury, 500 Luxury), and turn signals.

Wrapped-around and slightly jutted out, the tail lamps are in a lightbar design, centre slim with wide arrow-like edges. Fitted are full LED units.

Features are turn signals, and paired to the layout is a high-mounted LED stop light (roof-edge spoiler integrated) and a set of fog lamps.

The dual-tone (Black-Body-colour) side mirrors are electronic-powered (auto-fold, adjust), with turn signals, heating, manual-dimming and Blind Spot Detection (BSD) indicators (400 Luxury, 500 Luxury).

Mounted is a set of ventilated (front) and solid (rear) disc brakes, incorporating an Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) with Auto Brake Hold system, and one-pedal driving mode (regenerative braking).

Sportily-designed, fitted is a set of 18-Inch dual-tone (Silver-Black) five-star-spoke alloy rims, rubbered-up in 225/60 R18 (front, rear) Chao Yang Radial RP76 tyres.

The Neta X gets the following sets of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). 

Standard systems are Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assistant System (BAS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Traction Control System (TCS), Hill Hold Control (HHC), Hill Descent Control (HDC), Collision Automatic Unlocking, Around View Monitor (AVM), and reverse camera (auxiliary guidelines).

Variants 400 Luxury and 500 Luxury add on Full Speed Adaptive Cruise Control (FS-ACC), Intelligent Cruise Assist (ICA), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Traffic Jam Assist (TJA), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Lane Change Assist (LCA), Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Door Opening Warning (DOW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR), High Beam Assist (HBA), and Emergency Lane Keep System (ELKS).

Passive safety includes six airbags (driver-passenger, front sides, front-rear curtain), seat belts (pretensioners, anchors, reminders), ISOFIX (two - outer rear seats), electronic child lock, automatic door locks (speed-sensing), parking cameras (reverse with auxiliary guidelines, AVM 360-degree), parking sensors (four - rear), adaptive headlamps, Passive Cruise Control (PCC - 400 Comfort), Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) with Auto Brake Hold, Direct Tire Pressure Monitoring System (D-TPMS), and anti-theft system (alarm, immobiliser).

Four selectable drive modes (ECO, SPORT, COMFORT). Also incorporated is One-Pedal Driving (regenerative braking).

Largely-floating, installed is a 15.6-Inch ‘Intelligent Central Control Screen’ infotainment unit, running the Qualcomm Snapdragon SA8155P System-On-Chip (SOC).

Features are Bluetooth, USB/AUX, Apple CarPlay, Spotify, navigation (real-time), intelligent voice control, in-car WiFi, and Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates. 

Entertainment is channelled via an eight-speaker sound system.

The Neta X nestles a single-front-mounted electric motor (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor - PMSM), generating 120 KW (163 HP) of max power and 210 NM of max torque.

Fitted is a single-speed electronic automatic transmission with a column shifter (R,N,D,S,P).

Power is sent to the front wheels, via a Front-Wheel Drive (FWD) system.

Acceleration from 0 to 100 KM/H in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is 150 KM/H. 

Powering the e-motor is a Lithium-Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery with variant-specific outputs (51.8 KWH - 400 Comfort/400 Luxury, 62.0 KWH - 500 Luxury).

On a full charge the cells generate 401 KM (400 Comfort, 400 Luxury) and 480 KM (500 Luxury) of driving range (NEDC).

AC charging (Type 2 - 6.6 KW), takes 9.0 hours (400 Comfort, 400 Luxury) and 11 hours (500 Luxury) for a 0% to 100% State of Charge (SoC). 

DC charging (CCS2 - 65 KW), takes 30 minutes (400 Comfort, 400 Luxury, 500 Luxury) for a 30% to 80% SoC.

Also included is a Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) charging system, providing up to 3,300 W/3.3 KW of output for other external electronics’ powering needs.

The Neta X features these conveniences.

E.g., keyless entry system (engine Start/Stop, ‘Ride & GO’ function), electric-tailgate (contactless - remote/key fob), Vehicle-To-Load (V2L) function (3.3 KW), Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) with Auto Brake Hold system, steering wheel (multi-switches, electronic column shifter, column adjustments), electronic-powered seats (front - multi-way, heating, memory/welcome function), armrests (front, rear), single-zone automatic air-conditioning (rear air-vents, pollen filtration), infotainment (Apple CarPlay, voice recognition, Spotify), wireless charger, LED interior lighting (reading, boot),  parking cameras (rear with auxiliary guidelines, AVM 360-degree), parking sensors (four - rear), exterior side mirrors (auto-fold/adjust, heating, manual-dimming, blind-spot indicators), window defroster (rear), automatic wipers (intermittent, rain sensing), and automatic headlamps (On/Off/high-beam).

Ride comfortability feels flexible and firm. The e-SUV delivers a comfortable and light steering feel with smooth overall electric performance.

The electric platform is propped-up by a setup of MacPherson strut (front) and multi-link (rear) suspensions.

Good sound insulation with most of the NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) aspects accounted for. The ride is quiet, refined and the road noise is mostly muted.

The Neta X is a well-equipped vehicle for its price. First, its exterior has a youthful and energising design.

Second, quality of the materials installed, inside and outside of the car are adequate with mature design and restrained detailing.

Ultimately, it is a pretty decent e-SUV, and aside from being a versatile urban cruiser, it is also a powerbank on wheels (V2L).