The Jimai Lingbao Box is the unholy matrimony of a Daihatsu Kei car and an Ora Good Cat
CY Foong · Apr 22, 2022 01:00 PM
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Though Chinese carmakers have taken great leaps to shed their image of being unsafe tin cans on wheels or blatant copies of existing models, it doesn’t apply to every one of them. For every successful Geely, Chery, or Haval, there are smaller companies like Bodo, Yema, and Jibai Jimai that are trying to make their presence known.
This little EV pupper that you see here is a product of one of those smaller companies and it is called the JibaiJimai Lingbao Box. If you’re familiar with Japanese Kei cars, you might notice that it looks a little bit like a Daihatsu Cast and you’re half right.
The model that you see in most of the photos here is the facelift that was launched in December 2021 which made it look like a squished Ora Good Cat in front. The Cast lookalike is still maintained in the rear though. Jimai is rumoured to have gotten hold of the body moulds for the Japanese Kei car which is why it looked similar.
Jimai seems to have also gotten hold of the dashboard mouldings too as it looks like a mirror image of the Cast inside. As the gear selector in the Lingbao Box is a rotary dial mounted on the floor, there is a narrow storage space where the gear shifter used to be in the 'donor' Kei car.
You might be wondering what this Jimai company is anyway and its name in full is the Jiangsu Jimai New Energy Vehicle Industry Co. Ltd. Based in Jiangsu, the company is young, having been established in 2018 but its owner, Jinpeng Vehicle Industry has at least ten years experience building electric vehicles.
Some of Jinpeng's EV products with the obligatory spelling error
The Lingbao brand is used on Jimai’s range of EVs which are different from its parent company’s usual range of electric bikes, tricycles, and quadricycles. Jinpeng reportedly sold 10 million electric vehicles between 2008 and 2020 but trying to move even 1,000 Lingbaos might be a bit difficult.
Pre-facelift Jimai shown
The Lingbao Box is meant to be a Chinese Kei car with seating for 5 adults and more room than the ultra-popular Wuling Hongguang Mini EV. It’s available with 2 electric motors – a 30-kW unit or a 35-kW motor.
Fast-charging GB/T port shown, we have an explainer here
The smaller motor is connected to a lithium iron phosphate battery (up to 19 kWh) that only supports slow charging with up to 180 km of range. The 35-kW motor on the other hand is juiced up by a ternary lithium battery (up to 35 kWh) that supports slow and fast charging with a range of up to 351 km.
The Lingbao Box comes with a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment screen with Bluetooth, air-conditioning, reverse camera and sensor as well as a tyre pressure monitor as standard but no airbags.
The Jimai Lingbao Box is priced between RMB 39,800 – 58,800 (~RM 26k – 39k) which is within the price range of a mid-spec Hongguang Mini EV. Besides the Box, Jimai has two other EVs in its small line-up, the Lingbao Coco and the Lingbao Uni, the latter of which looks like a direct copycat of the popular Wuling EV.
EVs in Malaysia are still out of reach for many with the expensive price being the biggest barrier. Compared to the Mine M1/’Mini’ EV x2 that went viral a couple of years ago, this Jimai is probably safer on the roads but if you want an affordable EV car in Malaysia, you might have to wait just a little longer.
Traded advertising for a career that fits his passion for cars. Enjoys spotting cars during his free time and has a soft spot for Japanese Kei cars but drives a thirsty manual sedan.
