Chinese chasing Europe: Now it's premium brand Hongqi's turn

Owned by FAW Group, it will bring 12 electric car models in five years. Starting within the year with a saloon and an SUV

Photo by: InsideEVs

By: Francesco Barontini

Jul 19, 2024 at 5:50am ET

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The expansion of Chinese manufacturers into Europe continues. This time it is the turn of the luxury brand Hongqi, owned by the FAW Group, one of the historic manufacturers from the country of the Dragon, which started business as early as the 1950s (not surprisingly the acronym stands for First Automotive Works).

Officially unveiled at Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Hongqi brand currently only sells one car, the E-HS9 large SUV in Norway and a few other Northern European secondary markets, but now it announces far more ambitious plans.

12 models in five years

Hongqi has announced that it has embarked on an expansion plan on the Old Continent that will take the brand to all markets with a range of as many as 12 models, on sale over the next five years.

At present, Hongqi is only present in some Northern European markets with the E-HS9 SUV.

They will be electric or plug-in hybrids. The group should start with an EH7 mid-size electric saloon - one would almost be tempted to use a rather overused expression and say it is yet another rival to the Tesla Model 3 - and an SUV (a sort of Model Y, just to stay on the theme) called the EHS7.

The two models will arrive in dealerships by the end of 2024.

Comparison with the Germans

Hongqi, which is China's oldest car brand (dating back to 1958) chose the Goodwood Festival of Speed to make the announcement not only because it is a prestigious showcase, but also because it wanted to emphasise that its cars are on a par with, if not better than, what prestigious European manufacturers such as BMW, Audi or Mercedes are able to offer.

The EH7 saloon promises better performance than a Tesla Model 3

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Giles Taylor, a designer with a past at Rolls-Royce and with Hongqi since 2018, told Automotive News Europe that China is no longer a country that simply copies the good things done by others, but has now developed its own technologies and personality.

The problem at the moment is that the models on sale, being premium, will be priced between €60,000 and €100,000 (approx. £50,000 and £85,000), and that is without taking into account the duties that will raise the price lists by 20%. At the moment, top management is wondering whether to absorb the tax internally to remain competitive or to pass the cost on to customers. The goal, in any case, is to sell between 30,000 and 50,000 cars by the end of the decade.