In recent years, the rapid growth of China independent vehicle brand strength is obvious. However, due to the brand image, most people are always worried about the quality of China produced cars. Therefore, some car companies began to introduce high-end luxury brand in order to enhance their brand image, sush as Lynk & Co (Geely) , WEY (GWM) or Exeed (Chery).
As a luxury brand launched by FAW, Hongqi has been labeled as “China govern. official car”, precisely because of its image and price is not very close to general public, its sales have not been too bright. In order to start its own “recovery road”, Hongqi has launched a number of new models such as HS5, H5 that cater to the times in recent years, and its sales have also increased. Recently, Hongqi released a new med-to-large SUV Hongqi HS7, the position is above Hongqi HS5, the price ranges 349,800-459,800 yuan (~US$50,845 – US$66,835).
Hongqi HS7 debuted at 2019 Shanghai Auto Show, we have also reported in our past post:
In terms of body size, Hongqi HS7 has a length, width and height of 5035/1989/1778mm and wheelbase of 3008mm.
Hongqi HS7 positioning and price
Hongqi HS7 is positioned as a medium to large SUV with length of 5035 mm and wheelbase of 3008 mm. The size is bigger than Toyota Highlander, Ford Edge or Honda Avancier on China market, as well as Toyota Prado.
In terms of size, Hongqi HS7 competitors are VW Tharu, Haval H9. In terms of luxury, Hongqi HS7 is intended to compete for the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE, and Volkswagen Touareg. as Hongqi HS7 is powered by a 3.0T mechanical supercharged engine as well as 8AT gearbox.
Not only that, Hongqi HS7 features front double cross arm and rear multi-link independent suspension. The structure of the suspension is also higher-end, it also reached a high level in the interior materials and workmanship. Therefore, the price of Hongqi HS7 is reasonable.
The main selling points of Hongqi HS7 are as follows:
- 3.0T mechanical supercharge engine, 337 horsepower, 445 N.m, matching Aisin 8AT gearbox.
- All models come standard with full-time four-wheel drive system.
- The interior materials are high-grade and rich in configuration, the base model also has a 12.3-inch full LCD instrument and a 10.1-inch central control large screen.
- The starting price of 349,800 yuan is reasonable and cost-effective with the above configuration.
BUT,
As ordinary family users, a 200,000-yuan segment joint venture 7-seat SUV is enough. There are many joint venture brand models on China market in this segment today. For example, Toyota Highlander, Ford EDGE, the big five-seat SUV also has Honda Avancier, VW Tiguan L and so on. These models have a good reputation in China market, and sales are also very good, consumers do not have to spend 100,000 yuan more to choose Hongqi HS7.
High-end users, 400,000 yuan budget, they choose Mercedes-Benz instead of Hongqi.
For high-end users, if I have a budget of 400,000 yuan, my first consideration is the Audi Q5L, Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3 Instead of Hongqi, I think Hongqi brand is still unable to support the price of 400,000 yuan.
The 7-seat is not the core selling point of HS7, because the third-row seats of any SUV are basically furnishings. So Q5L, GLC, BMW X3, these five-seat luxury SUV, can fully meet the demand.
