Have you ever dreamed of owning an electric My Little Pony? It seems FAW have you covered with the Bestune (formerly Besturn) Pony available is six exterior and five interior colors. The Pony is the latest entrant to an increasingly crowded micro EV segment and follows the typical Wuling Hongguang Mini EV clone playbook. Pre-sales are set to being on April 30.
This FAW car gets called a lot of different things. Firstly the Chinese name is Xiaoma (小马) which translates as Pony. However, Benteng (奔腾) which is the Chinese name for the Bestune brand translates as galloping and so you will see this car also being referred to as the Galloping Pony even though top speed is 100 km/h! The car has actually been a long time coming, it was first seen at last year’s Shanghai Auto Show and is only just going on sale now. Bear in mind the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is said to have gone from a clean sheet of paper to production in about a year.
Size wise it comes in at 3000, 1510 and 1630 mm (l/w/h) while the wheelbase is 1953 mm. Outside the car is decked out in a two tone paint job with a white roof and inserts on various parts of the body. Buyers can choose from these external colors: jasmine white, bubble blue, celestial blue, camellia green, peach pink, and cheese white (pearlescent white). There is a completely enclosed front grille and the two headlights are quite distinctive. The Bestune logo acts as the cover for the charging port.
As strictly a three-dour four seat car the interior space seems tight. Unlike some competitors there is no central screen and just an LCD instrument screen. Most of the Mini EV cars have the drive selector on a console between the two seats but on the Pony this is more sensibly located on the dashboard. Mounted to the left of it are the electric window controls. To the right are three dials for climate control. In front of the passenger is what appears to be a basic sound system consisting of radio, Bluetooth phone connection and a USB port. Buyers can specify the interior in beach gold, bubble blue, sky daisy blue, camellia green, and peach pink. Safety equipment seems to only consist of seatbelts and a driver’s airbag.
The Bestune Pony is powered by a 20 kW electric motor which delivers 85 Nm of torque. The lowest spec (Cute Fun Horse) gets a 9.4 kWh battery good for 122 km CLTC range. Both higher spec versions have names meaning something like Vitality Horse and benefit from a 13.9 kWh battery meaning a 170 km range.
There also should be a convertible version going on sale.
Editor’s note:
There are a lot of micro EVs on the market now and new ones seem be coming every month, the Zhidou Rainbow launched just a few weeks ago. Pretty much all except the Changan Lumin look almost exactly the same as the trailblazing Wuling Hongguang Mini EV and the Bestune Pony is no exception. Quite what the car brings to the market that the others don’t is questionable. Equally why it has taken so long for sales to begin is a mystery.
How to get it in India
It is available in Pakistan