Smart home store mUther has opened an electric vehicle-only pop-up showroom at the East Point shopping centre in Boksburg.
The first-of-its-kind store known as the mUther Xperience Hub sells the Dongfeng Box, with an E pi 007 model also on show.
mUther is an online South African shop that sells smart home and automation technologies. The company was founded by Alex Staniland, who manages it. The Dongfeng Box is a Chinese electric hatchback imported into South Africa by E Auto Motor SA, the new start-up company founded in 2024 and the authorised general agent for several Dongfeng products.
The Dongfeng Box, which is known as the Nammi 01 in other markets, measures 4,020mm in length, 1,810mm width and has a 2,660mm wheelbase, making it roughly the same size as the BYD Dolphin Surf and MINI Cooper. The city car also boasts LED lights, frameless doors, dual screens, flush-fit inductive door handles and a colour-contrast floating roof.
The cute little car also has a front passenger seat that folds flat into a bed for quick naps and is sold with either 31.45kWh or 42.3kWh lithium-ion battery packs, with driving ranges of 330km and 430km on a full charge, respectively.
Charging takes seven hours on a 6.6kW AC home Wallbox charger and 44 minutes to fill up from 10% to 80% on a faster public DC charger.
The mUther Xperience Hub will initially offer the Dongfeng Box, but according to Staniland, who spoke to Motor News, other EVs from the parent company will be added to the portfolio in due course. The tech entrepreneur says the pop-up store is a lead-up to a fully fledged Dongfeng dealership being built in Boksburg.
The plan is to consolidate the mUther Xperience products, including smart home technologies, electric scooters and other clean-energy products and electric vehicles in the new dealership.
With Dongfeng SA planning to expand its local offerings to include the Voyah and M Hero ranges, Staniland says he is preparing to add the electric iterations to the EV portfolio on sale at his new Boksburg dealership, including the elegant Dongfeng eπ (e pi) 007 that’s currently on show at the pop-up stand.
The sleek four-door coupe is available as a pure EV. Motor News understands that a unit has undergone local homologation processes.
“I have long been a fan of electric vehicles (EVs). They offer so many benefits over traditional, internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered cars,” says Staniland.
“South Africans have been slow to adopt electrified motoring, but I believe that the tide is now turning. The number of EVs on sale today has increased significantly, and vehicle recharging infrastructure increases almost daily.”
Dongfeng in SA
Dongfeng is one of the top five Chinese state-owned brands with multiple subsidiaries, including Voyah, M-Hero, Nammi, DFSK and others. DFSK is a commercial vehicle brand and is sold in South Africa through an independent agent.
Following the launch of Dongfeng Box as the company’s first passenger car in South Africa, the new Dongfeng mUther Xperience EV store in Boksburg will become the brand’s third official dealership opened after the flagship head office in Pretoria and another in Durban.
