A shipment of 500 electric Voyah Free SUVs left Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, on Monday for Norway, marking the NEV maker's inroads into its stop in Europe.

Voyah, the premium arm of State-owned Dongfeng, started to accept orders in the European country in June for the electric model.

Its first overseas showroom, called Voyah Space, opened in Klingenberggt, Norway, on June 11.

Deliveries of the Voyah Free SUVs are expected to start in November, said the carmaker.

Lu Fang, CEO of Voyah, said he is excited that the China-made vehicles are to compete with those from international premium brands in the developed European market.

Sporting a 106.7 kWh battery pack, the Voyah Free SUV has a mileage of 500 km on one charge.

It sports two electric motors, generating a maximum output of 360 kW and a top torque of 720 Nm. The model accelerates from zero to 100 km/hour in 4.4 seconds.

Voyah said its second model, an electric MPV called Dreamer, will hit the European market in 2023.

In the same year, the brand will speed up its efforts to explore the overseas markets, entering countries including the Netherlands, Denmark as well as Israel.

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have become a new driving force of China's vehicle exports.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that 593,000 such vehicles were shipped overseas in the first eight months this year, up 83 percent year-on-year.