Overview

AS of the time of writing, GoAuto has not tested a vehicle marketed as the Forthing Taikon 5. At least, not currently…

Prior to the media launch of the debut model from Forthing – which is a new Australian market entrant from Chinese-state owned manufacturer Dongfeng, distributed locally by Ateco – it came to light that the ‘Taikon 5’ name had received trademark challenges from Porsche AG and its parent company Volkswagen in Australia and New Zealand.

In response, Forthing removed the nameplate from its marketing materials as temporary precaution, renaming its electrified mid-sized SUV model the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid.

But while Forthing has made national automotive news headlines with the ongoing trademark dispute, the new Chinese entrant will need to find other ways to make waves in a hotly contested Australian market, which has recently been flooded with similar, fellow Chinese competitors.

According to its national manager, Forthing is aiming to leverage Dongfeng’s vehicle manufacturing expertise, Ateco’s existing foothold in the Australian market, its affordable new energy vehicles and its luxury features as standard to compete Down Under.

Two different powertrains are offered for the electrified mid-size SUV in Australia.

In BEV guise, its front wheel-drive fully electric powertrain features a 150kW and 340Nm electric motor and a 64.4kWh battery (supporting 30 to 80 per cent DC charging times of around 30 minutes), good for a WLTP driving range of 427km.

The other powertrain is a real-wheel drive range extender plug-in hybrid (REEV), comprising a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine (which never drives the wheels), a 31.94kWh battery, and a 120kW and 240Nm electric motor.

Running on electricity alone, the Range Extender Hybrid has a 170km WLTP range. With the petrol engine at work, it has a claimed total driving range of 937km.

Both powertrain guises are offered with a choice of two trim levels: the entry-level Luxury and the range-topping Exclusive.

Prices start at $36,990 drive away for the REEV Luxury, rising to $38,990 for the BEV Luxury, $40,490 for the Exclusive REEV and $42,490 for the Exclusive BEV.

In the mid-size SUV segment, the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid shares the market with both plug-in and fully electric offerings, including the BYD Sealion 5 ($33,990 - $37,990 before on-road costs) and Atto 3 Evo ($41,990 - $46,990 + ORCs), the Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid ($34,990 - $38,990 until September 30, 2026), Geely EX5 ($41,990 - $45,990) and Starray EM-i ($37,490 - $44,990), and the Leapmotor C10 ($43,888 - $53,888 + ORCs). 3.5kW vehicle-to-load functionality is also supported for both powertrains.

As standard, the Luxury model gets 19-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, heated door mirrors, a 14.6-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, synthetic leather seats, electrically-adjustable (10-way driver, four-way passenger) front seats, a massaging and ventilated driver’s seat, and a four-speaker sound system. The Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid does not hold an ANCAP star rating as of the time of writing.

Standard safety features on the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, rear collision warning, lane keep assist, lane departure prevention, traffic sign recognition, lane change assist, blind spot monitoring.

Over the Luxury, the Exclusive model gets front parking sensors, a 360-degree camera, a panoramic sunroof, a leatherette steering wheel, power folding mirrors, a rear cargo blind, an electric tailgate, rear privacy glass, a 50W wireless phone charger, and a six-speaker sound system.

A space-saver spare wheel and a jack kit also comes with the Exclusive Electric model, while the remaining variants come with a tyre repair kit.

When it comes to storage, the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid has 480 litres of the second row up and 1480 litres with the rear bench folded.

The Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid is offered with a seven-year/200,000km warranty, an eight-year/200,000km battery warranty, and five years of roadside assist (provided servicing is completed with Forthing).

Service intervals come every 12 months or 15,000km for the Range Extender Hybrid and every 12 months or 20,000km for the BEV variant. Service pricing has not been announced as of the time of writing.

Forthing has also partnered with charging solutions provider Revcharge, allowing Forthing customers to arrange a home charging solution through the same sales consultant.

But will Forthing’s value proposition be enough for its Electric and Range Extender Hybrid to stand out locally? We got behind the wheel to find out.

Driving Impressions

Aesthetically, the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid is handsome enough if not ground-breaking. The front light signature is sleek, and the hexagonal grille pattern and carbon-look diffuse are cool additions. The rear-end design is also refreshingly simple and clean.

A strange visual quirk of the Forthing Electric is that while the charging port is situated at the front of the vehicle, it still has the side fuel cap that the Range Extender Hybrid has.

Step inside and you’ll find an interior reminiscent of a Mercedes GLC from around 10 years ago, with a similar dashboard shape, inlay and trim design, glovebox lid, and circular air vents.

The crystal gear selector with the light-up Forthing logo and carbon-look dashboard trim is also quite snazzy.

However, while the cabin looks premium, save for the synthetic leather, it doesn’t actually feel particularly up-market in many respects.

There’s scratchy plastics atop the door cards, the entire centre console flexes when knocked slightly, and the air conditioning vent bezels feel flimsy enough to brake.

Unlike many rivals from its country of origin, the Electric and Range Extender Hybrid does well to include physical buttons on the dashboard for things like air conditioning temperature and fan speed, air recycling, window demisting, and the hazard warning light, which we appreciate.

Front row storage options include the cleared out space beneath the dashboard — an EV hallmark — a deep centre console armrest, two cup holders, and deep door bins.

The infotainment touchscreen looks high definition, with a layout that will feel familiar to anyone who’s tried a Chinese car before.

While there’s a sense of familiarity and some navigation functions are intuitive (such as the bottom navigation bar), it suffers from the same over-abundance of sub menus, while the grouping of certain functions in somewhat illogical places.

For example, the “Car Body and Chassis” menu contains the “Car doors” and “Windows” sub-menus (neither of which have anything to do with the chassis).

Meanwhile, the “Driving Mode” menu contains regenerative braking settings but the hybrid drivetrain modes are contained in a totally different menu (that menu also contains regen modes).

Furthermore, seat ventilation and massage functions can only be viewed by swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen, which if you didn’t have someone to show you this, you’d never find it.

The screen response times are also quite inconsistent, reacting quickly sometimes and slow at others.

When it comes to visibility from the front row, forward visibility is fine but the view rearwards is a bit limited as the back window appears quite slim from the driver’s seat.

In the back seat, headroom is ok but not mind-blowing. Knee room is also quite good although there’s not much space for the outboard passenger’s feet beneath the seat in front.

Second row amenities include a USB-A port, a centre folding armrest with cup holders, rear air vents, a small storage slot below the air vents and quite large door bins.

At a glance, the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid’s boot space seems ok if not exceptional, but there’s usable underfloor storage in the REEV while the Exclusive EV benefits from a spare wheel.

On the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid’s local media launch in Sydney, we drove it from Parramatta to the HART (Honda Australia Rider Training) facility in St. Ives before putting it through its paces on the carriageways and on the twisting, technical roads in and around the Ku-ring-gai Chase national park.

Specifically, we had the opportunity to test both powertrains in range-topping Exclusive guise.

What became quite quickly apparent was the lack of polish in the Electric and Range Extender Hybrid’s driving experience.

In the REEV, we observed considerable tyre noise as well as an evident whine from the electric motors.

Another salient characteristic was its brake pedal feel, offering virtually no resistance in the initial travel with most of the pressure found deep in the pedal. Essentially, it feels like the brakes aren’t really working until your foot’s almost on the floor.

It doesn’t feel natural when pulling up in stop/start traffic, and on a twisting backroad it’s even more noticeable, usually requiring an additional pedal application to request further pressure when heading into a hairpin bend down a hill for instance.

As for the rest of its traits, very little inspires overall confidence…

The steering feels non-linear and vague, while the body lacks composure over bumps. The Atlas tyres used on the Electric model lack grip, causing the front wheels to skip and struggle for traction over bumps while under power.

Sport mode helps slightly with some of these issues, but definitely not all of them and certainly not to any considerable degree.

We suspect the reason for this lack of refinement is that while Forthing conducted testing for the Electric and Range Extender Hybrid locally, things like the suspension and chassis tuning were left largely unchanged, leaving it unsuited for Australian roads.

When it comes to ADAS we were pleased with its lack of irritating beeps and bongs during our driving experience, something which is often an issue when it comes to new market entrants.

Both powertrains are quite responsive, thanks to the instant electric torque. But while they react quickly, neither feel particularly potent, and even with your foot buried both models feel slow to accelerate.

As for efficiency, our trip from Parramatta to HART in the Range Extender Hybrid  – which largely took place in rush hour traffic – returned 0.4L/100km and 15.6kWh/100km in “Fuel-electricity hybrid” mode.

On a 32.6km dual carriageway and backroad drive, the REEV posted 0.5L/100km and 14.7kWh/100km. On the same road loop, the Electric returned 12.6kWh/100km.

Overall, the Forthing Electric and Range Extender Hybrid offers sharp pricing, impressive electric and combined on-paper range in the case of the REEV, a list of standard equipment that punches above its weight, and competitive vehicle and battery warranties.

However, the holistic package is simply too rough around the edges to justify, even with Electric and Range Extender Hybrid’s cheap pricing. An Australian specific tune and a rework of the brake pedal feel would fix a great deal of this car’s problems.

Ultimately, there are plenty of alternatives throughout Australia’s highly competitive market that we’d consider first before walking into a Forthing dealership and purchasing one of these.