A few days ago, Hongqi officially announced the latest sales results, according to official data, Hongqi 1-2 months cumulative sales of 63800 units, although did not separately announce February sales, but also difficult to xiaobian, because the previous Hongqi has announced january sales of 42100 units, with the total sales of 1-2 months, minus the sales volume in January, the result is 21700 units, which is the sales volume of Hongqi in February.
The new Red Flag H5 is about to run
The reason why Hongqi did not announce February sales is very easy to understand, because the sales volume in January was 42,100 units, and only 21,700 units in February, and the data was directly cut, which seemed very ugly. In fact, it is not necessary at all, because February is only 28 days, and it coincides with the Lunar New Year, the sales plunge has always been the rule, almost all the car companies that have announced sales have plummeted month-on-month, and it is also natural that hongqi sales have plummeted.
However, the direct waist cut in February did fall slightly, especially the Hongqi target for the whole year of 2022 was 450,000 units, and the sales volume in January and February was 63,800 units, and the proportion of time and tasks seemed to be slightly different. Of course, don't worry too much, in order to complete the 2022 task, Hongqi has arranged a large number of new cars to go into battle, the most typical such as the upcoming new generation of Hongqi H5 (also rumored to be H6), and the product capabilities have been fully enhanced.
As the first blockbuster model after the comprehensive revival of Hongqi, The Hongqi H5 was launched at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2018, and the new car has the size of the B+ class, but the price positioning is only slightly more expensive than the joint venture A-class car. After the H5 was listed, it became a hit, and with a young and radical design style, the previously conservative and serious Hongqi brand became more vivid and close to the people.
In terms of sales, Hongqi H5 is also the core main attacker of Hongqi, and in 2021, Hongqi H5 sold 81,057 units, ranking second in the system after Hongqi HS5 and accounting for more than a quarter of Hongqi's annual sales in 2021.
The product strength has been fully upgraded, and the space exceeds that of imported Mercedes-Benz E
Now with the advent of the new Hongqi H5, there is a subversive evolution in terms of product power, we summarize various information and refine several outstanding features of the new Hongqi H5.
The first is a comprehensive revolution in design style; the design style of the current Hongqi H5 is youth sports, radical and high-spirited, very sharp at a glance, very young, with a slender body and athletic temperament. The new Hongqi H5 style has changed dramatically, abandoning the design style of the previous youth movement, adopting the family design concept of H9, the front face is equipped with a large-size straight waterfall middle net, and the two sides are split LED light groups. The rear of the car also continues the family design, equipped with a through-type light group, the overall aura is mighty and luxurious, in fact, it is a miniature version of the Red Flag H9. In terms of interior, the new generation of Hongqi H9 is also newly designed, the overall style is more luxurious and more technological, the large-size vertical central control is very similar to the Mercedes-Benz C-class, the large-size LCD dashboard is also very exaggerated, and the material material and process are more luxurious than the current model.
In terms of space, the new car is also fully evolved, the current Hongqi H5 three circumference 4945/1945/1470mm, wheelbase 2875mm, this size comprehensively exceeds the B-class car Accord, but it does not open up too much gap, the wheelbase of 2875mm compared to the Accord's 2830mm longer 45mm, but does not meet the C-class standard, is a typical B+ level. The space of the new generation of Hongqi H5 has been significantly improved, the length of the new car spans 5 meters, the three circumferences reach 5050/1915/1570mm, and the wheelbase reaches 2920mm, which comprehensively exceeds the current model, especially the wheelbase is increased by 45mm compared with the current model, and the height of the car is increased by 100mm, which not only improves the internal space, but also enhances the tall and burly mighty momentum.
At the same time, the new generation of H5 with increased space is actually infinitely close to the C-class car. Originally, the space of the current Hongqi H5 has reached the B+ level, after the new generation of H5 is extended, in terms of several hard indicators such as length and wheelbase, the distance from the C-class has been highly close, typical compared with the imported version of the Mercedes-Benz E-class, the length, width and height of the new generation of Hongqi H5 has even won in an all-round way. The improvement of space is a significant evolution of the new Hongqi H5 and one of its core competitiveness.
In terms of more important powertrain, it is expected that the new Hongqi H5 will be equipped with two engines, 1.5T and 2.0T, of which the power parameters of the 1.5T engine have been lowered compared to the current 1.5T, and the fuel economy is more pursued; the latter abandons the old 1.8T engine used by the current H5 and uses the same 2.0T engine as the HS5, and the transmission system is upgraded to an 8AT transmission. This will greatly improve the dynamic performance of the new car.
The price of new cars may increase significantly
It is certain that the listing of the new Hongqi H5 will bring a comprehensive evolution to this model that has been listed for four years, and after the comprehensive upgrade, the product strength of the new Hongqi H5 has even exceeded the current Hongqi H7, which means that it is very likely that the new Hongqi H5 may appropriately increase the price.
There is, of course, good reason for this. Before the listing of the current Hongqi H5, the annual sales of Hongqi was only less than 3,000 units, which was completely negligible, and after the new chairman Xu Liuping took office, there was an urgent need for a blockbuster model to open the situation, so at that time Hongqi H5 chose to go public at a low price, sacrificing profits and expanding sales.
But after a few years, the development pattern of Hongqi has changed. In 2021, Hongqi sold more than 300,000 units, almost a hundred times that of 2017, and the industry status was upgraded from the previous bench player to the leader of the second-tier luxury car camp. At this time, sales are still very important, but they are no longer as urgent as the survival of four years ago. Hongqi has sufficient time and resources to re-create or transform its product series, the previous low-priced Hongqi H5, less than 150,000 starting prices, in fact, to some extent reduces the sense of luxury and high-end of Hongqi, this situation needs to change.
On the one hand, the Hongqi brand is promoted by the sense of mission of The Hongqi brand as the only luxury brand with deep historical accumulation in China; on the other hand, the overall high-end of independent brands is the trend of the times. A few days ago, Ideal released the new second model Ideal L9, it is reported that the guidance price reached 500,000 yuan range; the Great Wall released the Mecha Dragon at the end of last year, the guidance price of 488,000 yuan; the cheapest ET5 of weilai models, the starting price is 328,000 yuan. The comprehensive high-end of a group of rising stars has put a lot of pressure on the red flag of the leading big brother of independent luxury brands, and the return of brands to luxury and strengthen luxury is the trend of the times.
We predict that the root cause of the new Hongqi H5 may increase the price, in fact, lies in the comprehensive evolution of the new car product force: the appearance is more luxurious and domineering, the space is almost upgraded to a level, the power system is fully innovated, the interior is more exquisite, although the configuration is not announced, it will inevitably be richer and more advanced, when the product strength is comprehensively improved, it will inevitably bring a substantial increase in production costs, so the price increase of hongqi H5 is almost a natural success, and it is imperative.
Of course, consumers do not have to worry too much, even if the price system of the new Hongqi H5 moves up, the current Hongqi H5 is likely to still be sold. Part of the reason is that the new car has only been on the market for 4 years, the product is not aging, and it is still highly competitive. Part of the reason is that the styles and products of the current model and the new model are very different, which can just form a complementary and more adequate coverage for the consumer market.
Write at the end
Of course, the above is only our experience-based guess judgment, as for the real price of the new Hongqi H5, and whether the current model will be sold on the same stage, and even whether the specific identity of this model is H5 or H6, everything needs time to confirm. We will continue to pay attention.