CarBrandLogos archive · Avatr · 2023

AvatrAvatr 12

A sedan that makes its case with software rather than displacement.

Photo: S5A-0043 · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Avatr history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Avatr 12, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Launched in 2023, the 12 took the technical package of the 11 and put it under a low four-door body with a fastback roofline, a full-width lighting bar and, in some specifications, a yoke-shaped steering wheel and camera mirrors. Nader Faghihzadeh's team stripped the interior back to screens and a floating instrument display, which is a statement of where a Chinese executive car now competes.

Avatr Avatr 12 · Zoerides · CC0

Design and engineering

Huawei's contribution is the selling point: the HarmonyOS cockpit and the assisted-driving stack, with lidar, are marketed at least as hard as the powertrain. Battery-electric versions use a single rear motor or two motors for all-wheel drive, and a range-extender variant carries a 1.5-litre turbocharged four as a generator.

Avatr Avatr 12 · JustAnotherCarDesigner · CC0

In production

Built at Chongqing and priced against domestic rivals rather than aimed primarily at export, it is the model that tested whether Avatr could sell something other than an SUV.

Avatr 12 IAA 2025 DSC 1399 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2023–present

Engine

Petrol engine

Designer

Nader Faghihzadeh

Body

4-door sedan

Technical specification

The Avatr 12, in detail.

Production: 2023–present
Class: Executive car (E)
Body style: 4-door sedan
Layout: Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout; Rear-motor, rear-wheel drive ; Dual-motor, all-wheel-drive
Engine: Petrol engine; Petrol range extender: ; 1.5 L JL469ZQ1 turbo Inline-four engine; I4
Transmission: 1-speed direct-drive
Designer: Nader Faghihzadeh ; Nicolas Guille ; Benoit Cauet
Assembly: China: Chongqing
Manufacturer: Avatr Technology