Chinese car makers are always happy to try new things. Cars with odd names or odd looks. Car buyers tend to like that too. A fine case in point is this brilliant new car: the Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edge Edition. It is an outrageous machine with wild wings and wheels.
The Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edge Edition is based on the Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX, a sporty sedan that was launched last year. Aeolus, or Fengshen in Chinese, is a brand under Dongfeng Motors. The Yixuan MAX comes as a 163 hp 1.5 turbo hybrid or as a 190 hp 1.5 high pressure turbo. The hybrid is mated to a CVT, the petrol car to a 7-speed DCT. It is a good looking car but a little… boring.
The Dark Night Edge Edition is anything but. Everything you see is factory standard. A body kit with: a front spoiler and lip, winglets on the sides of the bumpers, winglets behind the front wheel, side skirts, winglets in front of the rear wheel, widened front and rear fenders that, at the rear, extend far over the rear door. We are not done yet. It also has a huge wing on the back, matte black paint with gold, and racy wheels with a gold rim and black spokes. All very cool and sure worthy the Dark Night Edge Edition name.
The inside isn’t as wild as the out. It is basically the standard cockpit except for the gold detailing, the flat-bottom steering wheel, and the red-gray sporty seats.
The graphics of the 12.3 inch digital instrument panel look nice but the car in the main image is the standard Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan, not the Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edge Edition.
The 10.25 inch touch screen seems a little small and old-school for 2022.
The rear wing has two layers, and note the complexity of the aero behind the rear wheel. There is a large winglet in gold and above that two more winglets in black, and above that is the widened rear fender. Dongfeng really did a lot of work on this car. The four exhaust pipes are all real and they have valves for sound. The diffuser looks pretty impressive too.
The Dongfeng badge on the bonnet is silver. It should have been in gold, really, like the Aeolus brand name on the grille. The F1-style bumper is very racy.
Sadly, as is common so in China, the Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edge Edition doesn’t get any extra power to propel all the extra plastic forwards. The engine is the same 1.5 turbo as in the standard car: 190 ho and 300 Nm, mated to a 7-speed DCT, sending horses to the front wheels. Top speed is a claimed 210 km/h.
Now for the money. A 4.7 meter long sedan with 190 horses and wild wild looks. What do you think that’ll cost in China … … … No! Much less. The Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan MAX Dark Night Edge Edition costs 117.900 yuan or 18.6700 USD. That deal is a steal; for a twin-plate rear wing. Yeah.
