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WUHU, China — Oct. 22, 2026 — Chery Group's electric-vehicle brand iCAUR kicked off its 2026 International User Summit here today, bringing together 20 customized vehicles across indoor and outdoor experience spaces. The event is built around the "Classic Never Fades" design philosophy, and this year's lineup shows that philosophy in practice: a single, recognizable body style can be adapted for gaming, camping, fishing, surfing, urban commuting and more. The brand, part of Chery Group's broader new-energy vehicle push, has been building a global presence across more than 40 markets. Alongside 17 owner-built creations, three official customized vehicles — the V25 Game Changer, V23 Forge and V27 Sun Roam — were unveiled, with retail availability slated for early 2027.
The V25 Game Changer reads as a love letter to gaming culture. Its palette and detailing are pulled from retro joysticks and controllers, embedded into the familiar boxy profile without breaking the design DNA. The V23 Forge stays closer to the standard V23 outline but adds flared wheel arches, a vertical grille and high-gloss black trim, sharpening the city-friendly body with a more rugged off-road attitude. The V27 Sun Roam blends 1980s overland proportions with the visual language of vintage cameras, aimed at travelers who want their vehicle to be both a practical tool and a photography subject.
Three different moods, same family look. The message from the factory row is deliberate: iCAUR's architecture is designed to carry individual interpretation while remaining instantly identifiable. A shopper who likes the V23's proportions, for example, can choose between a street-tuned build and a fully equipped overland conversion without starting from scratch.
Independent builders turned geography into graphics. Golden Horizon wraps a V27 in imagery drawn from UAE sand dunes, city skylines and Arabic geometric patterns. Wild Pursuit uses sand tones and rainforest olive, combining tiger-claw marks, mountain outlines and tropical leaves to capture Malaysia. Mondrian Mosaic transforms a silver-white V23 into a grid of red, yellow, green and blue — a compressed reference to South Africa's multicultural identity. Together, these builds show how a car can be a canvas not just for personal style, but for a sense of place.
Many of these builds came from owners in different countries, and iCAUR says they were curated as working references rather than museum pieces. Function is just as important as paint. PET ADVENTURE equips its V27 with a car-shaped scratching board, food bowls, pet mats and tethering gear, making it a rolling pet station. REEL RANGER is an angler's companion, fitted with a canoe rack and roof cargo carrier. A craft-beer-themed V23 brings brewing culture onto the street with purple and yellow tones, while the FUNFORCE V23 commits to drifting with a wide-body kit and rear spoiler. Every build demonstrates that customization goes beyond decoration, offering practical ideas that other owners can apply directly.
Attendees didn't just inspect the cars; they tested the scenarios. The water-sports V23 displays paddleboard racks and awnings beneath wave graphics, with a nine-square toss game set up nearby. The camping V23 becomes a complete campsite using a roof platform, integrated tent, awning and rotating ladder; visitors can set up quick-fold chairs and walk through the whole arrival-to-rest routine. A racing-inspired V23 with sharp geometric lines becomes a photo checkpoint, while an off-road V27 uses auxiliary lights, a side ladder and a roof platform to emphasize backcountry readiness — with a spinning-wheel photo pose for fun.
The photography-themed V27 takes the hands-on concept the furthest. Using the factory roof rails, dashboard mounting points and top threaded interfaces, the car becomes a mobile shooting platform with solid anchor points for camera gear. Guests tried high-position jib shots and scanned a QR code to collect their photos or videos. That small workflow — try, shoot, save — shows how professional-grade equipment can turn into an accessible, shareable ownership experience. It also blurs the line between a car show and a club meetup: partners' expertise becomes something visitors can try for themselves.
The indoor ecosystem exhibition layers sensory cues with product stories. The Classic Time Memory Zone displays music players, headphones and curated vintage objects from different eras, while the Ebony Noble fragrance wraps the space in warm woody notes. The AiMOGA robot is also on site, offering a preview of future intelligent mobility. The effect is to make "Classic Never Fades" something visitors can feel through form, sound and scent, not just read in a brochure.
Lifestyle vignettes for surfing, cycling and travel sit next to a personalization zone that lists exterior kits, body accessories and outdoor gear. There, visitors can match available options to their weekday commutes and weekend getaways. A co-creation story zone shows how owners arrived at their designs and how the finished cars fit into daily life. Real vehicles, practical gear and personal narratives reinforce each other, making the link between classic design, technology and everyday use easy to grasp.
CEO Ronna Luo used the event to lay out iCAUR's near-term roadmap. The three official custom vehicles will launch no later than early 2027, via either KD assembly or dealer-fit kits, depending on local regulations and market demand. Every iCAUR showroom will include a dedicated customization zone; when new models arrive, custom variants will sit alongside standard versions as inspiration and ready-to-order options. iCAUR also confirmed that the new customization zones will be supported by dealer-technician training, so the configurable options remain practical to install and maintain. Underneath the styling, the brand's i-AWD intelligent electric all-wheel drive and REEV Golden Range Extender are designed to support the trips these vehicles are meant for.
The community side is getting a permanent structure too. iCAUR has set up official user clubs in nine markets, and the Club Connect program will expand that network to additional countries in 2027. Feedback from club events will feed directly into product and experience upgrades. The first cohort of iCAUR brand ambassadors was announced at the summit, formalizing an ongoing effort to recognize owners who add value to the brand and its community.
For iCAUR, the summit is not an end point. It seeds an ongoing cycle: creative ideas shown at events become production options, production options become user stories, and user stories become the next round of inspiration.
For American readers, iCAUR's strategy may look familiar. In North America, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has long documented how personalization strengthens owner loyalty and extends vehicle usefulness. Established U.S. brands have built entire subcultures around pickup trucks, sports cars and off-roaders using a similar mix of factory options, dealer accessories and owner clubs. What's notable here is that a China-based, export-focused automaker is applying that same playbook to battery-electric vehicles — and doing so across 40-plus markets.
The summit also signals that customization is moving beyond paint jobs and wheel swaps. iCAUR's builds tie hardware to hobbies: roof tents for campers, camera mounts for filmmakers, pet-safety systems for owners with animals. That kind of functional, lifestyle-driven personalization could be the next differentiator in the global EV market. The U.S. has historically been the heartland of vehicle personalization, and the EV transition has created room for new brands to define what personalization means for a quieter, more connected car. Whether American buyers will see iCAUR showrooms has not been announced, but the direction of travel is clear: customization is no longer an aftermarket niche; it is becoming a factory-backed, community-driven way to sell electric vehicles.
Perhaps the most important message from Wuhu is about longevity. iCAUR treats the vehicle as a platform that can be refreshed as life changes: a commuter car gains camping gear for summer, then swaps in camera equipment or pet accessories when the owner's routine shifts. That adaptability challenges the typical EV conversation, which usually centers on range, charging speed and software updates.
By folding owner feedback into product planning, iCAUR is also trying to make customization less of a one-time purchase. The clubs, ambassador program and showcase zones are designed to generate a continuing exchange: the brand supplies building blocks, owners supply creativity, and the resulting ideas become shared assets. If "Classic Never Fades" means anything in practice, it means a well-designed body can keep accumulating personal value over years — the same way a favorite Jeep, Bronco or Defender becomes more interesting with age. The 2026 summit offered the clearest picture yet of how iCAUR intends to live that idea.
