The list of Chinese brands that want to conquer the European car market is getting a bit longer. Recently, it was Seres that announced its European ambitions and this time it is Hongqi that has focused its electrical arrows on the European consumer.
Hongqi is one of the more famous Chinese car brands. It is one of the many brands that the Chinese state-owned FAW Group has in its portfolio. Hongqi was founded in the late 1950s and can therefore call itself one of the oldest Chinese car brands. You may know Hongqi mostly from the sedans it produced for senior government officials. Even in 2020, Hongqi still has stately state limos such as the L5 and L9 on the menu, but the company also builds SUVs such as the HS5 and HS7. The brand’s largest SUV is the E-HS9, a fully electric SUV that is also coming to Europe!
Hongqi E-HS9
The still fresh Hongqi E-HS9 was presented in China a few months ago as a production version of the E115 Concept. The E-HS9 is 5.2 meters long, 2.01 meters wide and 1.73 meters high. There is no less than 3.11 meters between the front and rear axle. In terms of size, the E-HS9 is therefore comparable cars to the Land Rover Range Rover. Honqi supplies the E-HS9 as a four-seater, but also has six- and seven-person versions of the SUV. The four-wheel drive E-HS9 has two electric motors, each good for 218 hp and 350 Nm. The top version will have a 218 hp electric motor on the front axle and a 350 hp version on the rear axle. According to Hongqi, the E-HS9 is able to sprint to a speed of 100 km / h in less than four seconds. The battery pack is more relevant. The batteries incorporated in the car’s bottom plate provide the electric SUV with 92.4 kWh of electric lung capacity, good for a range of 510 kilometers. Note that this was measured using the not very accurate NEDC cycle.
Now for the good news: the Hongqi E-HS9 is coming to Europe. The SUV will be the first to be offered in Norway where the distributor will focus on the electric SUV. FAW Group also has plans to supply the rest of Europe with Hongqis. Hongqi confirms to Techzle that it also has plans to offer the E-HS9 in the Netherlands. Hongqi is actively looking for Dutch dealers to enter into a partnership with. Don’t expect it to stay with the E-HS9. Hongqi has already indicated that in the long term it also wants to introduce compact and medium-sized SUVs and sedans in Europe.
The number of Chinese manufacturers with European ambitions is growing steadily. Recently it was Seres who unveiled his European plans. BYD, among others, is coming to the Netherlands next year and MG has been very popular in the Netherlands for a short time with the electric ZS EV. That brand is now expanding with the EHS. Aiways has just started selling the electric U5. The Chinese manufacturers have also found the European market for commercial vehicles. For example, Maxus has also been selling its orderers in our part of the world for a while.