25 December, Avatr decided to put an end to the dispute that flared up online around the “Antarctic mission” of the 2026 Avatr 12. The manufacturer released an official statement: the joint project Polar Center x Avatr x China Automobile Center Engineering Institute has already been launched, and the car itself will remain on the continent for a long time. According to the plan, the Avatr 12 will spend more than 16 months in Antarctica, undergoing tests and technical inspections across different polar seasons and under changing environmental conditions.
Recall that on 8 December Avatr stated that the Avatr 12 had become the world’s first new-energy vehicle to land in Antarctica, and that the expedition would begin in extreme cold down to -50°C. It was precisely this wording that triggered a wave of criticism. Users pointed out that December is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and that temperatures of around -1°C were recorded at Zhongshan Station. For comparison, they cited Beijing, where during the same period it was about -6°C, which made the advertised figures look inflated by almost 50 degrees.
Avatr representatives explained that the arrival dates were determined not by marketing, but by the logistics of the scientific program and the schedule of the Chinese polar vessel Xue Long (“Snow Dragon”). The ship departed in November and arrived at Zhongshan Station on 7 December, so the start of the expedition inevitably fell during the Antarctic summer. At the same time, the vehicle’s return is not planned in the near future: the Avatr 12, together with the Chinese polar research team, will remain in Antarctica approximately until April 2027 in order to complete a full cycle of seasonal tests lasting more than 16 months.
The roles of the project participants have also been disclosed. The Polar Center provides environmental support and polar space technologies for the tests; the engineering institute of the China Automobile Center serves as the technical backbone for adaptive development by third-party manufacturers; and Avatr Technology is responsible for implementing and applying advanced universal solutions. The joint goal is to verify technology in polar conditions, address the shortage of such testing for “new energy,” and push the industry toward technological breakthroughs (source: news.yiche.com).
