Huawei's electric car drives diagonally

The Chinese flagship is equipped with wheels that steer up to 16 degrees and can literally 'drift' past cars in traffic

Photo by: Huawei

By: Alberto Carmone

Jan 28, 2025 at 3:27am ET

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A car that can drive diagonally? A real convenience for getting out of the tightest of parking spaces or jumping through traffic faster. This feature can be found on the Maextro S800, a luxury flagship in the Huawei Galaxy range.

Sold only in China at a price of 1 million yuan (about £110,000 ), the saloon shows off its prowess in a video as it 'drifts' through a series of Maybachs.

The secret of its agility

The official video shows the long, almost 5.5-metre flagship as it moves impressively around seven Maybach S 680s with ease, thanks to the 'crab walk' function. In practice, the latter makes use of the steering rear wheels, which can turn up to 16 degrees, compared to 10 degrees in the Mercedes S-Class and 5 degrees in the Rolls-Royce Ghost.

The four-wheel steering function allows the S800's rear wheels to mimic the angle of the front wheels.

This impressive technology, which was first demonstrated on the GMC Hummer EV a few years ago, allowed the vehicle to easily glide around the seven parked cars.

883 PS, but reduced range

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Featuring a two-tone paint job, 20-inch wheels, a LiDAR sensor on the roof and a luxury interior, the Maextro S800 is available in 100% electric and EREV variants, i.e. electric with a combustion engine acting as a generator.

The battery-only versions have up to 863 PS, while the EREVs come in two power outputs of 530 PS and 863 PS. There is no information on the battery pack of the electric Maextro S800. However, the range extender adopts ternary NMC batteries from CATL with a capacity of 63.3 kWh. The electric range of the S800 is 170-230 miles in the CLTC cycle, depending on the propulsion variant.