Today morning (9th, January), FAW Hongqi’s (Chinese “红旗” means “red flag”) all new Hongqi H9 was officially released, this is the flagship sedan model from Hongqi H-series. The car uses a design that subverts the previous FAW Hongqi model and looks very stunning. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Hongqi H9 is mainly operated by Chinese designer Ding Yangfeng and the design team, the design review has been conducted since 2017.
The biggest change of Hongqi H9 is the appearance design style, the new design language of Hongqi was released on the previous concept car, the important features of the front are: the straight waterfall-type grille with relief effect; the newly designed front badge extends from the grille to the hood, simple and sufficiently representative; the headlights are narrow and long, flush with the extended lines on both sides of grille; provide a two-color body.
The shape of tail parts of the new car features the design method commonly used by high-end luxury car brands – the rear lines of the car extend downwards, the tail lights are also tilted backwards, reflecting a stable visual effect; it is reported that the rear of the car refers to the shape of Tiananmen elements, combined with side windows designed to extend backwards, make the side of the body look very slender.
In terms of interior, the horizontal visual effect of the center console is full, the curved design is adopted in the center of the instrument and the center control screen with the relief design on the right side, the center console is very layered, both the instrument panel and the central control use large-size LCD screens, UI design is simple style; the infotainment is equipped with Hongqi Smile 1.0 intelligent vehicle system. It is worth mentioning that there is a design on the front and rear central armrests that echoes the red line on the front of the car, allowing the brand image to be integrated into these details in a simple manner.
The Hongqi H9 released this time is a four-seater design, rear row passenger can adjust the rear seats, the rear backrest can achieve a large tilt, there is also a fragrance function in the car. In terms of power, Hongqi H9 2.0T turbocharger and 3.0T mechanical supercharge will be available, the maximum power is 252 horsepower and 272 horsepower respectively, and the peak torque is 380N · m and 400N · m. In terms of chassis, the new car features rear-drive chassis based on a longitudinal engine and is equipped with air suspension system.
The number of new cars launched by FAW Hongqi brand in the past two years is obvious to all, whether it is a car or an SUV, they are using different methods for design innovation. After Giles Taylor officially joined FAW Group in September 2018 and served as Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer, he clarified the new style of Hongqi brand in the future, so that makes Hongqi’s design style younger and market-oriented. At the same time, Hongqi plans to launch 21 new models by 2025. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the design of Hongqi H9 is not from Giles Taylor, but led by the Chinese designer Ding Yangfeng. Giles Taylor only joined Red Flag in 2018.
Hongqi H9 is positioned as a mid-to-large sedan, from the perspective of positioning and level, mainstream large cars are in the competition category in Chinese market, such as Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series and Audi A6L. In addition to the comprehensive quality of the product itself, Hongqi has the combination of special brand influence and new styling design, which is also a bonus point for the competitiveness in the same level of products.
In the past two years, the Hongqi brand is accelerating the introduction of new products, the overall product strength and sales volume are intuitively reflected, in the whole year of 2019, the sales volume was 100,166 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of more than 200% compared with 2018. Further improvements, in addition to the continuous expansion of the product system, the improvement of core technology and better design have a positive effect on word of mouth accumulation and sales volume increase. It is reported that Hongqi plans to implement L3 level autonomous driving functions in mass production this year.
