BAIC Xingtan 5X: A New Brand's First Car, 30,208 Orders Before Launch

A 4,865 mm five-seat box SUV with 625 km of electric range or a 1,350 km hybrid, seven trims and a Huawei lidar option. BAIC's newest badge went on sale in China on 12 November.
 

BAIC Off-Road put its new Xingtan badge on sale for the first time today. The 5X — the first model to wear it — is a 4,865 mm five-seat SUV with a flat roof, a spare wheel on the tailgate and a choice of battery-electric or plug-in hybrid power. The company says it collected 30,208 orders in the 23 days since pre-sales opened on 21 October, a figure that makes this the most-watched launch of the week in China and the reason it is worth a close read.

Seven trims are on the list: three electric, four hybrid, with the Huawei driver-assistance system available on four of them. The 5X is not a rebody of anything BAIC already sells. It is a new platform under a new name, and that makes it the cleanest test yet of whether the company can sell a family SUV rather than a working vehicle.
 

Xingtan and Tantalum: two different jobs

BAIC Off-Road already runs a premium line called Tantalum, built around the 700 — a body-on-frame machine aimed at buyers who actually leave the road. Xingtan is the opposite brief. The character for "star" in the name signals technology, city use and family duty; the shared character for tantalum keeps the off-road lineage visible without promising a rock crawler. The 5X therefore gets a load-bearing body, a multi-link rear axle and a flat floor, and the numbers follow: 26 degrees of approach angle, 28 of departure, 23 of breakover, 228 mm of ground clearance and 600 mm of wading depth. Enough for gravel, snow and a rutted track. Not a replacement for a ladder frame.
 

Two powertrains, one body

The electric 5X drives the rear axle with a single 227 kW, 334 Nm motor fed by an 81.9 kWh lithium iron phosphate pack from EVE. CLTC range is 625 km, the architecture runs at 800 V, and a 30–80 per cent charge takes 14.5 minutes. Consumption is quoted at 15.1 kWh per 100 km and there is a 96-litre front boot where the engine would otherwise sit. Kerb weight is 2,135 kg.
 

The hybrid uses a 1,498 mL turbocharged four-cylinder, the A156T2H, making 105 kW and 235 Nm on 92-octane fuel, bolted to a single-speed dedicated hybrid transmission. Front-wheel drive adds a 200 kW motor for 272 PS combined; all-wheel drive adds a second motor on the rear axle for 400 kW and 654 Nm, or 544 PS. Both carry a 50.4 kWh Sunwoda pack and a 59-litre tank. CLTC electric range is 310 km in front-drive form and 285 km with all four wheels driven; combined range is 1,350 and 1,250 km respectively, with charge-sustaining WLTC consumption of 6.19 and 6.69 L/100 km. Only the all-wheel-drive cars get the 1,600 kg towing rating and the rear differential lock.

 

A cabin specified for families, not for spec sheets

The interior is where the 5X spends its margin. Two 15.6-inch 2.5K displays share one panel — the passenger screen is on the higher trims — with an 8.8-inch instrument display in front of the driver and a 268-degree wraparound layout that puts the centre console within reach of both occupants. The gear selector is a crystal-look ATS rotary dial flanked by seven physical keys, a deliberate choice in a segment that has been deleting buttons.
 

Practical hardware includes an 8.2-litre double-door compressor fridge running from minus 6 to 50 degrees Celsius, 6 kW of vehicle-to-load output, a panoramic roof that actually opens, and IP68-rated electricals good for 1.5 m of water for two hours. Fold the rear seats and the boot measures 2,231 litres; drop the front seats flat and the cabin becomes a 1.75 m bed. Usable cabin height is quoted at 1,307 mm, which is the number that matters for the second row. Audio is eight speakers as standard with a 23-speaker, conservatory-tuned system as an option.
 

Two electronics tiers, one visible difference

This is the part buyers should read carefully, because the gap between trims is not cosmetic. Cars without the Huawei system run a Snapdragon 8155 with 4G connectivity, five cameras and no lidar. Cars with it run a Snapdragon 8295P with 5G, one solid-state lidar mounted inside the cabin behind the windscreen, eleven cameras, 27 sensors in total and Huawei ADS 5 Pro covering both city and highway driving, with Petal Maps replacing the standard navigation. The cabin software is BAIC's own BEIJING OS with a Yuanjing AI layer built on the Doubao model.

 

What this means outside China

Nothing has been announced about export, right-hand drive or homologation, and BAIC has a history of selling its off-road models into markets that Chinese passenger cars reach late. The 5X is nonetheless the most exportable thing the brand has built: a five-seat body with no third-row compromise, two powertrains that suit different duty cycles, a 1,600 kg towing rating on the all-wheel-drive cars and a hardware set that survives hot and cold climates. The absence of a third row also means the packaging is honest, which is more than can be said for most box-shaped SUVs at this size.
 

The open question is calibration. Thirty thousand pre-orders in three weeks says the positioning works; it does not say the dampers, the steering weight and the software have been finished to the standard the body implies. That is what the first deliveries will settle.

 

Key facts

Figures as published on Autohome (spec 78798) for the 2026 model year, five of the seven trims shown. A dash means the manufacturer has not published a value. * FOB is an estimate derived from the entry-trim guide price under our standard formula; it is not a quotation.

 

FAQ

Short answer:the Xingtan 5X is BAIC Off-Road's new entry brand and its first model — a 4,865 mm five-seat SUV offered as a 625 km rear-drive electric car or a 310/285 km plug-in hybrid, with Huawei ADS 5 Pro available on four trims. It went on sale in China on 12 November 2026 after collecting 30,208 orders in 23 days of pre-sales.
 

• What exactly is Xingtan?
  A new product line under BAIC Off-Road, positioned below the premium Tantalum line. Xingtan targets city and family use; Tantalum stays with body-on-frame off-roaders.
• Is the 5X a five- or six-seater?
  Five. It is a five-door, five-seat SUV on a 2,875 mm wheelbase, with no third row.
• How long is it, 4,865 or 5,005 mm?
  4,865 mm as standard. The 5,005 mm figure quoted by some outlets includes the optional external spare-wheel carrier.
• Does every trim have Huawei driver assistance?
  No. Four of the seven trims do. The others run Snapdragon 8155 hardware with five cameras and no lidar.
• What is the towing rating?
  1,600 kg, and only on the all-wheel-drive hybrids, which also carry a rear differential lock.