As more car brands from China enter the UK market, a popular motoring personality has taken a look at one of the most luxurious models to come from the country.
Supercar Blondie is a YouTube channel which has more than 17.8 million subscribers regularly viewing videos on the latest models.
In a popular video, host Domi showed viewers the Hongqi E-HS9, a fully-electric luxury SUV that rivals the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, noting it has a number of familiar features.
She explained: “This is a full-size electric luxury SUV. This reminds me of Lincoln and this reminds me of Rolls-Royce, it’s both of them if they had a baby.
“The front of this car is unbelievable, we have low-down headlight units and upper LED daytime running lights and, if that wasn’t enough, there is an LED strip that goes all the way down the grille. And if you actually turn it on, there is a full-on light show at the front of this car.”
Roughly meaning ‘Red Flag’, Hongqi was one of China’s first car companies, building luxury models since the Chrysler-influenced CA72 from 1958.
Currently, the company offers a range of nine models, ranging from a compact saloon to a full-size SUV, with many available with petrol engines or as an electric vehicle.
There are no immediate plans to bring the Hongqi brand to the UK, however some of the models are already on sale in Norway, with the E-HS9 retailing from 669,900kr (£52,000).
Whilst she highlighted that the Hongqi is somewhat smaller than the £298,800 Rolls Royce Cullinan, Domi noted that the Chinese car is still incredibly practical.
She added: “Let’s just open the trunk so we can see the cargo space, just as I thought. Even if you have the third row of seats up, there is still plenty of space right here.
“These buttons let you fold and unfold your third row of seats to make your cargo space bigger. And these buttons over here are actually a really cool feature that allow you to lower and raise your suspension to make your life easier to load and unload stuff from the trunk.”
However, getting behind the wheel, Domi stated that the Hongqi’s weight and size made it slightly cumbersome to drive, whilst some of the fit and finish felt cheap for such a luxurious car.
She continued: “I’m going to tell you one thing. This car right here weighs 2,600kg and it’s almost 5.3 metres long, and you definitely feel that. Taking turns in this car, the whole thing just leans.
“I think it needs a few improvements, there’s a lot of plastic bits that I really don’t like, and I really wouldn’t want to buy a car with that price tag with that many plastic bits on it.”
