The Skywell D11 (开沃D11) is a

light commercial vehicle A light commercial vehicle (LCV) in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand is a commercial carrier vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of no more than 3.5 metric tons (tonnes). The LCV designation is also occasionally used in both Canad ...

(

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

) built by

Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus, also known as Nanjing Golden Dragon Skywell, is a Chinese manufacturing company established in 2000 in Nanjing. It produces vans, buses and commercial vehicles for the domestic and export markets. It is a subsidiary ...

from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

under the Skywell brand as a

chassis cab A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles. Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...

Recreational vehicle A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

, and

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...

Design

The Skywell D11 was introduced in China in February 2015 with prices up to 263,000 yuan and the electric variant has prices up to 758,000 yuan. The Skywell D11 is based on the same platform as the King Long Jockey since the Nanjing Golden Dragon is one of the joint ventures of Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry. The power of the D11 comes from either a 2.8 litre inline-four turbo diesel engines codenamed JE4D28B and JE493ZLQ4. The maximum output of the JE4D28B is 125 hp at 3200rpm and a torque of 32.6kgm at 1600rpm. The maximum output of the JE493ZLQ4 is 109 hp at 3200rpm and 32.6kgm of torque at 1600-2600rpm. Only a 6-speed manual transmission is available across the range. The top speed is 140 km/h. The electric version of the D11 has a top speed of 120 km/h and a maximum output of 82 hp, with a 10-18 seater mid-size bus variant available.

Exports

On March 4, 2016, NGDB announced the first exports were made to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

with 45 D11 electric buses to Hong Kong Xianglong Automobile Company. The D11s manufactured for Hong Kong were made according to local specifications, taking into account the hot and humid weather and the requirement to have them on the road for up to 20 hours, including low-floor access, right hand drive, sliding door, double rear doors and air conditioner systems. Hong Kong's humid climate and its technical standards were also factored into the D11s made for the SAR. The vehicles sold there would be used for luxury taxi operations. According to Qin Xujun, the company's brand director, their exports to Hong Kong "will greatly boost our brand image on the global stage, bringing us closer to the international competition."

Controversies

The designs of the Skywell D11 vans are controversial as they heavily resemble the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans with similar designs, body styles and overall vehicle dimensions. The Skywell D11 vans are among the various Chinese vans from domestic brands that chose to replicate the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with only minor styling differences. Other brands include

King Long King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd () or commonly known as King Long (, literally, ''Golden Dragon'') is a Chinese bus manufacturer headquartered in Xiamen, Fujian. Founded in December 1988, it is focused mainly on developing, manufac ...

Higer Higer Bus Company Limited, also known as Higer Bus, is a Chinese bus manufacturer based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It was established at the end of 1998. HIGER is China's leading exporter of buses and Coach (bus), coaches, whose units are av ...

and JAC.

References

{{Portal, Buses Vehicles introduced in 2015 Minibuses Vans Rear-wheel-drive vehicles 2010s cars Production electric cars Electric vans Cars of China