Taican 700 is officially here and it’s bringing NOA to the

The luxury off-road market just got a serious shakeup. Beijing Off-Road has officially launched its new premium brand, Taican, starting with the Taican 700. While most manufacturers are busy trying to make smart SUVs that can handle a gravel driveway, the Taican 700 is aiming for something much more ambitious: bringing high-level intelligent driving (NOA) to unpaved, lane-less, and potentially dangerous terrain.

The pricing strategy is aggressive right out of the gate. They've actually undercut their own pre-sale prices by about 10,000 to 20,000 RMB. Here is the breakdown of the official launch prices:

• Taican 700 Luxury Edition: 279,800 RMB (Special renewal price: 249,800 RMB)
• Taican 700 Qiankun Flagship: 329,800 RMB (Special renewal price: 299,800 RMB)
• Taican 700 Qiankun Peak: 379,800 RMB (Special renewal price: 349,800 RMB)

Note: The lower "renewal" prices require a brand trade-in subsidy.

Hardware that actually handles the dirt

If you look past the tech, this is a legitimate piece of off-road machinery. It’s built on a non-load-bearing body (ladder frame) with an eight-horizontal, two-vertical high-strength steel chassis. For those who don't care about the engineering jargon, that means much higher torsional rigidity compared to standard SUVs—essential when you're crawling over rocks.

The specs are solid for a heavy-duty rig:

• Powertrain: 1.5T range extender paired with dual motors.
• Output: 391kW power and 625N·m torque.
• Battery/Range: 49.4kWh CATL ternary lithium battery; 220km CLTC electric range; 1340km total range.
• Off-road capability: 215mm ground clearance, 26° approach angle, 23° departure angle, and 800mm wading depth.
• Locking Diff Setup: All models come with an intelligent electric center lock, rear differential lock, and low-range 4WD. The Qiankun versions add a front differential lock.

The "Off-Road NOA" concept

This is where things get interesting for the AI and robotics crowd. The Qiankun versions are equipped with Huawei's Qiankun ADS 5 system. This isn't just your standard highway pilot. It utilizes an 896-line dual-optical LiDAR at the front to handle wide-angle and long-range perception in the wild. It can detect an obstacle 14cm high from 120 meters away.

They’ve even added a high-precision solid-state LiDAR at the rear. This is a huge deal for off-roading because it enables RAEB (Rear Automatic Emergency Braking). If you're reversing toward a steep drop-off, a deep pit, or a cliff edge on a narrow mountain path, the car can actually detect the risk and brake for you.

The most impressive feat mentioned was a night test on the Wuxi Lanying "hanging" road in Chongqing—a notorious stretch of narrow, unlit, cliffside path. The Taican 700 reportedly completed an 8km stretch with zero interventions, even identifying and maneuvering around falling rocks detected by the LiDAR.

Real-world competition

The Taican 700 isn't operating in a vacuum. It’s directly eyeing the Dongfeng Mengshi M817. When you compare them on a level playing field—specifically the high-spec versions with the same 896-line LiDAR—the Taican 700 Flagship sits at roughly 329,800 RMB, while the comparable Mengshi M817 Max is around 349,900 RMB. That 20,000 RMB gap gives Taican some serious breathing room in a competitive segment.

It’s a clever play: combining Beijing Off-Road’s decades of mechanical expertise with Huawei's industry-leading perception and decision-making algorithms. They are essentially trying to democratize high-end off-roading by letting the AI handle the repetitive, high-stress tasks of navigating unpaved trails.