A large SUV that angles its wheels and turns almost on the spot: it looks like a motor-show gimmick. But there is a serious development behind this Exeed’s manoeuvres. Chery is experimenting with a chassis that can control all four wheels far more independently. That can suddenly make an unwieldy car surprisingly agile.
Is that really necessary? For the daily commute, probably not. Until you have to turn round in a dead-end street, get out of a cramped car park or manoeuvre past an obstacle. Then a feature that first seemed mostly amusing suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
Which car is this?
The demonstration car is an Exeed Sterra ET, an SUV from the Chery group that is also sold as the Exlantix ET in international markets. It is a car fitted with a special demonstration chassis. A report from Chery’s innovation day in Wuhu in October 2025 already described a Sterra ET with this so-called Feiyu Digital-Intelligent Chassis i, including sideways manoeuvres and turning on the spot.
The regular ET is hardly a small city car. For the 2025 Chinese model, Exeed lists a length of 4.955 metres, a width of 1.975 metres and a wheelbase of three metres. That distance between front and rear axles helps create plenty of interior space, but also explains why manoeuvring in tight spaces is a challenge.
The ET family includes both fully electric versions and range-extender versions: a petrol engine that generates electricity for the electric drive. That is clear from, among other sources, the official model brochure for the Emirates. Versions and specifications vary by market. The eye-catching turning function from the demonstration should therefore not be read as standard equipment on every ET.
Four wheels that do more than just roll along
On an ordinary car, it is mainly the front wheels that determine where you go. With four-wheel steering, the rear wheels join in. If they steer opposite to the front wheels at low speed, the car can make a tighter turn. If they steer the same way, it can move diagonally without turning its nose as far: the well-known ‘crab walk’.
Chery takes that idea further with independently controlled wheels. The Feiyu demonstration chassis combines electric wheel drive, electronically controlled steering and active suspension. In its technology presentation of April 2026, Chery also describes the combination of steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire: steering and braking via electronic signals.
By coordinating wheel angles and drive, the demonstration car can rotate around its own axis. Chery calls this a zero-radius turn. That obviously does not mean the car needs no space: the whole body still has to be able to swing round freely. The advantage lies in avoiding a wide arc and repeated forward and reverse shuffling.
From show trick to useful feature
America’s GMC shows that a related idea has already found its way into production vehicles. On the Hummer EV, CrabWalk steers the rear wheels in the same direction as the front wheels, so the vehicle can move diagonally. GMC cites parking and avoiding obstacles on narrow off-road trails among the uses. That is not the same as Chery’s turn on the spot, but the practical starting point is similar.
For the Chery system, the step from demonstration to everyday use remains crucial. Extra steering mechanisms and electronics have to be affordable, reliable and easy to maintain. The controls also need to stay intuitive. A convincing demonstration is a start; the value shows when such a system helps with ordinary journeys without problems for years.
The SpaceX lesson: keep trying
This is where the car touches on something bigger. In an early phase, new technology sometimes looks exaggerated, cumbersome or superfluous. That is no reason to call every trial a breakthrough. It is a reason to look beyond the first amusing clip.
SpaceX’s rockets are a far bigger example of what long-term testing can deliver. In December 2015 a Falcon 9 first stage landed back on land after an orbital launch. In March 2017 a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage flew again for the first time. The benefit of reuse was clear beforehand; the hard question was whether it would work technically and practically.
With a spinning SUV the question is different: will the benefit become large enough to justify the extra technology? You find that out by developing, testing and letting users work with it. Perhaps a feature remains a niche. Perhaps a later version proves useful in places the first designers barely considered.
Europe could be more curious
China has no monopoly on innovation, and Europe is not starting from zero. But the examples of Chery, GMC and SpaceX do show why room for experimentation matters. Companies build something, try it out, improve it and discover along the way which applications have value.
That attitude deserves more appreciation in Europe too, in industry and in the media. Critical questions about cost and usefulness are part of it. Dismissing a strange prototype as merely laughable does little to move us forward.
Today it looks like a car doing a trick. Tomorrow part of that technology may turn out to make parking easier or a completely different vehicle more manoeuvrable. Those who only want to start once the benefit is beyond doubt leave the inventing to others.
