Auto Shanghai 2013 Live - Zotye reveals T200 Compact SUV

Zotye has taken the wraps of the T200 mini-SUV, popular known to us Indians as the Premier Rio. This is not an all new model but just a facelift of the current one. It is a very popular SUV especially among the young who consider the cheap SUV as a perfect first car to hit those bumpy Chinese country roads.

The T200 mini-SUV still uses the same platform but now gets boomerang headlamps, multi-slat grille and a single-piece dumbbell-shaped fog light enclosure. The front grill gets angular and bigger design containing three horizontal bars. The front bumper is also completely new

With a rear-wheel drive configuration, the T200 mini-SUV has a 2420mm wheelbase, and is provided with two engine choices from Mitsubishi - 1.3 four cylinder with 93hp and a 1.5 four cylinder with 106hp, both mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox.

On the inside, it gets a completely new dual-tone dashboard. The steering wheel design is completely new.

It will be manufactured in Zotye’s manufacturing facility in Zhejiang province along with the 5008 model. Although, Zotye T200 is basically a radically facelifted Zotye 5008, it will be produced and sold alongside the 5008 rather than replace it.

Zotye has also started work on an all-new successor for the T200 which will use less of Daihatsu technology and more of Zotye’s.

It would be interesting to see whether this facelifted version heads to Indian shores as a replacement to the Premier Rio.