Beloved party: Hongqi EH7 will compete with Tesla

Two years ago, we met in Israel the first representative of the Chinese car manufacturer Hongqi, which supplied for years the official vehicles of senior Chinese officials, and made an electric revolution to survive in the new era.

Then it was the somewhat lonely e-HS9 in the market that tried to entice customers with the elusive concept of "Chinese luxury". Since then, with the addition of more brands calling themselves that, even if not traditional luxury brands, at least the sound is something that people are starting to get used to.

Like NIO, XPeng, and Zeekr, Hongqi is now also presenting a dedicated electric vehicle in this market of Sedans trying to attract customers with comfort, performance, and especially a price tag that offers an alternative to German and European luxury brands.

In terms of exterior design, it is another copy-paste product of the electric and Chinese car industry. A solid front, narrow headlights, recessed door handles, and a coupe-like body. It takes a completely different direction from the EH9, which, as they say, is hard to digest.

In terms of dimensions, it fits somewhere in between executive sedans like the NIO ET5, XPeng P7, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Tesla Model 3, and saloon cars like the new ET7 or the electric Genesis G80. In numbers, this means an overall length of 4.98 meters, 1.92 meters wide, a height of 1.49 meters, and a wheelbase of 3 meters.

The propulsion is rear or dual, meaning with a single or twin engine, with the most powerful version offering 619 horsepower and 3.5 seconds to reach 100 km/h. There are also two battery packs manufactured by CATL: the estimated range in European standard is about 450 km in the 85 kWh version or 615 km in the 111 kWh version. This puts it on a par with what is accepted in the segment, except that competitors like the Ioniq 6 have much smaller batteries (77 kWh).

Since the import of the model is expected only at the end of the year, it is premature to discuss levels of finish and equipment. Although these are expected to be high, at least according to the importer and past experience. Regarding the price, if the importer maintains the original pricing of the model in China, an interesting competition is expected here.

For example, the EH7's entry-level version overlaps in price with the 2X4 version of the XPeng P7 with 276 horsepower which costs NIS 230,000 in Israel.