Blockbuster new car
Red Flag LS7 released
In recent years, the rapid rise of domestic cars has gained full recognition and sales in the family car market, but in the high-end market, we have always lacked a decent flagship SUV, and only the BAIC BJ90 of the old Mercedes-Benz GLS has barely supported it. Just this week, FAW Hongqi officially released its new flagship SUV LS7, so far, Chinese brands finally have their own top flagship products.
Hongqi LS7 in the design or the familial style of the Hongqi brand in the past two years, the front face adopts a domineering vertical bar in the net, with a U-shaped light bar, and the middle is a red light bar that extends all the way to the cover, the whole car looks very burly and domineering, and the sense of solemnity.
The side shape of the Hongqi LS7 is very calm, the overall line is horizontal and vertical, and the silver trim of the rear window makes the vehicle look less rigid to a certain extent. In terms of size, the length of the Hongqi LS7 is close to 5.7 meters, the wheelbase is more than 3.3 meters, and the body width and height are also at the level of 2 meters. Such exaggerated size makes the LS7 the largest mass-produced SUV in the Chinese market. However, it should be noted that the Hongqi LS7 is also like the Lincoln navigator, using a non-load-bearing body with independent girders, rather than the load-bearing body of Cullinan and BJ90, which we speculate may be because the size of the vehicle is too large, and the girder must be relied on to ensure the robustness and durability of the body structure.
The tail design of the Red Flag LS7 is still very dignified, with a through-type chrome trim in the middle, which is matched with the through taillights, and there are taillight groups similar to the petal shape on both sides. The exhaust below is concealed, and the rear of the vehicle gives a calm and understated feel.
As Hongqi's flagship SUV, the interior part of the LS7 adopts a symmetrical design, which is very much in line with the traditional Chinese design concept. The steering wheel has a very retro two-frame design, and the metal ring below is the horn of the vehicle, which is also the most common design of classic cars in the past. In terms of material, the interior of LS7 uses a large number of leather and wood grain trim panels, and the color scheme is also very similar to the taste of traditional Chinese palaces.
There is a solid quartz watch at the bottom of the screen, and there are golden decorative poles on both sides, which are also inspired by the columns of traditional Chinese palaces, which look quite expensive.
Although the Hongqi LS7 is a staggering 5.7 meters long, it does not adopt a 7-seat layout, but provides two separate seats in the rear row, with huge armrests in the middle. The rear seats are large and thick, and they also support a variety of electrical adjustments, leg rests, massage, heating and more. In addition, the rear will also provide car refrigerators, independent power supplies, entertainment screens and other configurations.
As a flagship product, the LS7's power system naturally cannot be too bad. It is understood that the LS7 will be equipped with a 4.0T V8 engine, the maximum power of 360 horsepower, and is expected to match the 8AT gearbox. In terms of chassis structure, the LS7 adopts a non-load-bearing body, and uses a front double wishbone and a rear integral axle suspension, but it has the feeling of a hardcore off-road vehicle.
In terms of price, although the specific pricing of LS7 has not been announced by the official, considering that the V8 version of BAIC BJ90 has been priced at 1.288 million yuan, The size of Hongqi LS7 is larger, the brand is more high-end, and the price is bound to be more than 1 million. In addition to the price threshold, LS7 may also have a certain purchase threshold, because the L5 of the previous Hongqi L series is not a model of random retail, and LS7 may mainly supply the travel needs of the military and the government in the future.
The mid-term redesign of the BMW X7 was released
Hongqi released the LS7, and BMW also released a mid-term redesign of their flagship SUV X7. The current X7 currently on sale is the original X7 product officially released in October 2018, and it has been 3 and a half years now, just in time for the mid-term redesign. More importantly, the new X7 will open a new design language for BMW's "7 Series" flagship product line, which has far-reaching significance for BMW.
Top: Current X7 / Bottom: New X7
The biggest change in the new X7 is the front face design, compared to the current classic BMW double kidney + spoon type headlight style, the new X7 adopts a split light group structure, the size of the double kidney mesh has also increased, the lower encirclement has added silver fang-like decorative parts, and the millimeter wave radar size in the middle has also become larger. It is worth mentioning that the new X7 is BMW's first model to use a split light set, and the new generation of the 7 series and the pure electric i7 that will be unveiled on April 20 will also use a split light set design. It can even be said that future high-end BMW models will adopt the design language of split light groups.
For the front shape change of the new BMW X7, Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Car, said that this is to meet the new pedestrian protection regulations, and the new regulations require that the cover of the vehicle must be completely covered above the headlights, so it is designed as a split structure, and the near and far light headlights are embedded in the enclosing interior. Therefore, the new car released this year should consider whether to redesign the front face directly according to the regulations, or wait for the implementation of the 2024 regulations to change the model, BMW is obviously directly designed to meet the relevant regulations of the shape.
Compared with the controversial front, the side and rear of the new X7 have not changed much, after all, it is only a medium-term redesign! The whole vehicle still looks like a relatively burly and calm style, in line with the positioning of its 7-seat large SUV. It is worth mentioning that the new X7 also offers a 23-inch oversized rim, and is also the first production car in BMW's history to use a 23-inch rim.
In terms of interior, the new X7 is not surprisingly replaced with the same dual screen interior as i4, iX and other models, including a 12.3-inch full LCD instrument, and a 14.6-inch central control screen, the screen is also equipped with the latest iDrive8 operating system, with richer functions, and more intelligent language interaction.
The new X7's gear handles feature an extremely compact crystal lever that blends in with the surrounding buttons and knobs to make it look even more refined. In addition, the new X7 will come standard with electronically controlled shock absorbers and adaptive air suspension. At the same time, the new X7 will also provide automatic driving assistance system Pro, in addition to the conventional L2 level driving assistance, the vehicle also supports automatic lane change, congested road conditions off-hand automatic driving, 200 meters automatic track reversing, according to the current road conditions speed limit actively adjust the cruise speed and other functions.
In terms of power, the new X7 series is equipped with a 48V light mix system as standard, and provides three kinds of power: 40i, M60i and 40d. Among them, the 40i model is a 3.0T straight six gasoline engine, with a maximum power of 380 horsepower, a maximum torque of 540 N·m, and an acceleration of 0-100 km/h for 5.8 seconds. The M60i model is powered by a 4.4T V8 twin-turbo petrol engine with a maximum power of 530 hp, a maximum torque of 750 N·m, and an acceleration of 0-100 km/h in 4.7 seconds. The 40d is a 3.0T straight six diesel engine, with a maximum power of 352 horsepower, a maximum torque of 720N·m, and an acceleration of 0-100 km/h for 6.1 seconds. In terms of drivetrain, the new X7 series comes standard with an 8AT gearbox and an xDrive all-wheel drive system.
The new generation of Muskang real car exposure
Top: High Performance Edition / Bottom: Normal Edition
Although Ford has previously said it will not launch a Mustang sports car, the recently exposed new generation of models seems to negate this rumor. Judging from the real car photos of the new generation Oftang, the new car uses a wider trapezoidal large mouth net, and the lower part is a relatively simple movement surround. In addition, the new generation of Mustang will also provide various versions, of which the high-performance version of the net is larger, the lower encirclement is more exaggerated, and it looks more fierce.
In terms of interior, the new generation of Mustang will adopt the more popular dual screen design, but also retain a large number of physical buttons to facilitate the driver to adjust the function of the vehicle at any time while driving. Interestingly, when we enlarged the central control screen, we found that the Mustang tested in the United States actually had the word Chinese voice interaction, which seems to indicate to a certain extent that the new generation of Muskang will still be introduced into domestic sales, and even does not rule out that the car's engine system is developed by the Chinese team.
In terms of power, the new generation Oftang will continue to retain the current 2.3T four-cylinder and 5.0L V8 engines, but will also add hybrids and even launch pure electric models. Since its birth in 1962, the Mustang sports car has introduced six generations. The current generation on sale is a product launched by Ford in 2015, which has a history of 7 years and has reached the time of replacement. Today, driven by the global new energy trend, Ford still has not completely transformed Mustang into an electric vehicle, which is undoubtedly a gratifying thing for fans.
Rim frontier
AE86 used price crushes Mercedes-Benz S-Class
I believe that everyone has seen the racing anime "Head Text D", right? In the play, the first love girlfriend of the male protagonist Fujiwara Takumi, Motegi Natsuki, "did part-time" with his classmate father who drove a Mercedes-Benz car, which eventually led to the breakup of Takumi and Natsuki. This emotional experience also left a slightly sad joke among car fans: "No matter how fast Tuohai 86 is, it can't catch up with your uncle's Mercedes-Benz".
But now times have changed, due to the influence of "Head Text D", a second-hand AE86 has sold for more than 1.6 million yuan, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the same period is now worth 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. I don't know if Xia Shu will regret seeing the current used car market?
Musk wants to buy Twitter
Recently, according to overseas media sources, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is planning to acquire the AMERICAN social networking company Twitter (Twitter) for $41.39 billion in cash, and plans to create a "privatization of free speech platform". Interestingly, Musk already holds $2.6 billion, a 9% stake in Twitter, and is already the largest single shareholder of Twitter (and has not entered the board), and if the acquisition is successful, the total cost of Musk's acquisition of Twitter will reach $43 billion. You know, as of the close of the US Eastern Time on April 14, Twitter's market value was only $36 billion, which is equivalent to Musk's quotation 19.44% higher than Twitter's market value, such a high offer, Twitter's shareholders can hardly refuse.
Musk currently has nearly 81.9 million followers on Twitter, is the world's largest number of social platform fans CEO, if the successful acquisition of Twitter, then he will be able to control almost the entire Western social platform speech, it can be seen that Musk's ambitions are quite large.
* Who do you think is more handsome, Red Flag LS7 and Lincoln Navigator?