The Singapore Motorshow is taking place at the Suntec City Convention Hall from today until Sunday 14th January, and here are our top picks if you’re shopping for a family car, big or small

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SINGAPORE

Citroen e-C4x

Remember the Citroen e-C4 from late last year? It’s now gone a little bigger and is now the Citroen e-C4x. It’s a Category A COE electric car and at time of writing the most affordable electric European sedan on sale in Singapore. But it’s really kind of an urban crossover SUV with a longer boot. It’s powered by a 134hp electric motor with a claimed range of 436km.

There’s 510 litres of luggage capacity and while the silhouette is very much like a fastback sedan the car has the high-riding look of an SUV. Packed with active safety features and even a heads-up display for the driver, it’s plenty of value for money for a well-styled car with its price tag of S$145,999 with COE.

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MG9 EV

The big luxury MPVs continue to roll into town with the MG9 EV. It’s actually a re-badged Maxus Mifa 9. Both Maxus and MG are owned by China’s SAIC Motor, which explains the cross-platform sharing. Besides the badging differences, the bodywork of the MG9 MPV is virtually identical to the Maxus Mifa 9 launched in Singapore last year.

It’s a luxury seven-seater MPV that’s designed to challenge the likes of the Toyota Vellfire and Kia Carnival directly, and the Chinese brands are arguably starting to do a better job of it. It’s pretty quick too, with a claimed 0 to 100km/h sprint time of under 10 seconds with its single 241hp electric motor.

The base model is priced at S$165,888 without COE, which, when you factor in the cost of a Category B COE, is within shouting distance of the price of a Maxus Mifa 9 here in Singapore.

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Hyundai Kona EV

Two years after the previous-generation Hyundai Kona EV, the new one comes along and as you would expect, everything about it is claimed to be better. We had a preview drive of it in late 2023 in South Korea, but that was the more powerful 201hp version. Singaporean versions have the power output capped to 133hp, but it still has an impressive driving range of 456km from its 48.6kWh battery.

The car now also supports Vehicle-to-Load power delivery to run your high-drain electrical devices out in the open. It retains the trendy urban crossover SUV body style, and the interior space has been further expanded so it’s even more spacious than before. Taking one home will set you back S$156,888, inclusive of COE.

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Kia EV9

They keep making them bigger and taller. After the large Kia EV6 hatchback, the South Korean carmaker has now brought the EV9 to our shores. It’s obviously a large family SUV for the well-heeled, and its internal layout has three pairs of seats set in three rows, which makes it the only large, six-seater all-electric SUV on sale in Singapore.

It’s an oxymoronic combination of traits, as it doesn’t wear a traditional ‘luxury car’ badge on the nose but is built to a standard that is clearly luxury car level. It’s low key but also bold in its design, and is capable of turning heads in the same way that the Mercedes-AMG G 63 once could.

There’s a lot of power too, with 380hp from two electric motors and all-wheel drive. 0 to 100km/h is dusted off in six seconds flat. The claimed range per battery charge is 512km, and the underfloor-mounted battery pack means that the car will not feel top-heavy and promises to be more fun to drive than it initially looks. It costs S$289,888 without COE, making it the most expensive Kia ever sold in Singapore.

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Ora 07

The Ora 07 (read as “Ora Seven”) is the Chinese brand’s second car to go on sale in Singapore. The first was the Ora Good Cat compact hatchback just a few months ago and here’s the natural progression from that. The 07 is classed as a four-door coupe, but can pass as a medium family car with its overall length at 4.9 metres.

We know that official dealership Cycle & Carriage will pack it with plenty of standard equipment and every applicable active safety system that can be fitted, but its exact power specifications are still unconfirmed for now.

Chinese domestic models feature 204hp front-wheel drive and 408hp dual motor four-wheel drive variants, with driving range of up to 705km from 83.5kWh batteries. However it’s likely that Singapore models will again be detuned with hopes of getting at least one variant into the Category A COE segment here.

Other highlights include an 11-speaker audio system, a 12.3-inch centre touchscreen, and heads-up display. The car is expected to arrive in the second half of 2024, and prices have yet to be confirmed.

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Volvo EX30

Volvo hopes to reclaim its status as the safe premium family car of choice here with its EX30. It’s the smallest all-electric Volvo SUV available, and claims a range of up to 475km per battery charge with a 268hp motor. It accelerates from a standstill to 100km/h in just 5.3 seconds.

The car’s operating system is of the same platform as that found in the Volvo C40 EV, which means that it’s Google-powered and has hands-free help from Google Assistant, Google Maps navigation, and apps from Google Play. The EX30 is also the first Volvo car that comes with wireless Apple CarPlay functionality.

The price has yet to be confirmed, however we estimate it to be in the low S$200k range. 

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Shopping for a new car but too intimidated to start?

Well we were wandering around the 2024 Singapore Motorshow when we came across a new service being promoted. MrChia.sg (“Chia” as in “ 车“, geddit? Apparently these guys have got nothing to do with chia seeds) is a portal that claims to be your “personal connection to Singapore’s top car salespeople”.

What the service aims to do is to take you straight to the people that can provide you the service and advice you need, without extra marketing clutter and junk mail in your inbox. Signing up at www.mrchia.com.sg doesn’t even require you to reveal your phone number. You’re then free to engage with salespeople from across the official car dealership network in Singapore that will be recommended to you based on what you car buying preferences. Falling COE prices giving you ideas? Then maybe the folks over at Mr Chia can give you a hand.

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