01
Origins
The Kunlun of 2022 was Kaiyi's flagship gesture: a compact-plus crossover named for the great mountain range, carrying the young brand's sharpest styling, largest cabin and fullest equipment toward the heart of China's SUV mainstream. Chery-lineage architecture underpinned it; pricing kept the value discipline that justified the marque's existence. Launching a flagship amid the market's turn to electrification and price war was defiant timing, and Kaiyi supplemented the range with new-energy variants as policy demanded. The Kunlun's role is aspirational ballast — evidence the budget brand intended a full ladder, not a single rung — in a market where such intentions were being tested to destruction. Mountains make ambitious namesakes; the climb, for brands like Kaiyi, is the entire business model.
Kaiyi Kunlun IMG002 · Zotyefan · CC BY-SA 4.0
