This brand can't be bought with money, but why is it so good?

Hongqi, a name with an irreplaceable lofty position in the history of mainland automobiles, for a long time, Hongqi is synonymous with Chinese automobiles, and to some extent, Hongqi has become the representative of the highest level of China's automobile industry for almost a considerable period of time. But for many people, the name Hongqi is somewhat far from the common people, and the reason is not difficult to understand, for a long time, the occasions when Hongqi's models appear are almost not places that ordinary people can easily reach.

Of course, today's Hongqi is no longer as mysterious as it used to be, but as the mainland's probably most prestigious luxury brand, we are still curious about the question: What has become of Hongqi now? As a former national car and the most well-known luxury car brand in the mainland, what is the current state of Hongqi?

Some people may say that the design of luxury cars should emphasize luxury all the time, and this is of course very true, but there is a question: what is "luxury" and what constitutes luxury? You may say, a lot of leather, a lot of metal knob buttons, just like the German and British luxury cars, that is called luxury. Indeed, it is a kind of luxury, but luxury cars are actually largely representative of the culture of the country where they are located, whether it is German luxury, British luxury or American luxury, they all belong to Western luxury. So the question naturally arises, what is the Chinese luxury that belongs to the Chinese?

Looking at the red flag, you can actually know the definition of Chinese luxury. You can find on some models of Hongqi that it does not use those old-fashioned, traditional, Western-style luxury design elements, but will add a lot of things that look very Chinese, such as jade, such as golden sunflowers, and like the design concept of a round sky that only Chinese can understand. All these things are clearly distinguished from Western-style luxury, and are also one of the most important identifying features of a Chinese luxury car brand in the world.

Therefore, although the iconic design symbols unique to the original Hongqi car have been greatly diluted, we can still see from each of Hongqi's cars that are clearly different from other luxury brands rooted in overseas style, and this uniqueness is Hongqi's interpretation of Chinese luxury.

With the exterior design out of the way, it's time to talk about something hardcore. In fact, everyone knows that the essence of luxury cars still depends on strength, and the most intuitive manifestation of this strength is technology, and the intuitive performance of technology is research and development capabilities. So, what is the usually low-key Hongqi doing in terms of R&D capabilities?

The R&D capabilities of Hongqi brand in core technology can be said to be obvious to all. It's like saying that the V8 engine, this thing is actually not easy to do at all, the process is complicated, and the tuning difficulty is not small, you don't see even those foreign car companies, there are really few that can really understand the V8. The first V8 engine developed by Hongqi was born in 1964, which was also the first mass-produced V8 engine developed by Continental. Although limited by the technical level of the year, Hongqi's original V8 was actually developed based on Chrysler's V8 engine, but it has also taken the first step from scratch for China's V8 engine.

After talking about the V8, let's talk about the V12 engine, which is more technically difficult and is called "the pinnacle technology of the engine industry" by overseas car companies. Compared with V8, the technical difficulty of V12 has increased by several levels, mainly because it is too complex and difficult to tune. In 2007, Hongqi's first fully self-developed V12 engine rolled off the assembly line, model CA12GV60, which is a naturally aspirated 6.0L displacement V12 engine with a maximum horsepower of 400 horsepower, and is also the first V12 engine independently developed by Continental. At the beginning of 2023, Hongqi's second-generation V12 engine rolled off the assembly line, with a maximum horsepower of 762 hp and a maximum torque of 1,100 Nm.

You may have to ask: now is already the hybrid era, why does Hongqi still spend a lot of effort to develop large-displacement V12 this "obsolete product"? In fact, V12 engine as the most difficult structure of the internal combustion engine, whether it is the first generation in 07 or the second generation in 23, Hongqi knows that the availability of V12 engine in the civilian market is not high, but this kind of person has no ability, in fact, it is more than simple, market-oriented behavior can support the luxury tonality of a brand. What's more, the models carried by Hongqi's two generations of V12 engines are not ordinary family commuter cars.

With brand accumulation, there is also a strong R&D strength and technical strength that no one else has, but in the final analysis, luxury brands are facing users, so how to deal with customer relationships has become a problem that every luxury brand must think about seriously. On this issue, the practice of red flags is of great reference value.

At present, Hongqi has laid a complete dealer network and after-sales network in China, each Hongqi franchise store is also built with very high standards, although compared with international luxury brands, Hongqi is still a little deficient in the service network, but according to the current Hongqi for the expansion of its service network, it is only a matter of time to catch up with the service network of the top international luxury brands.

At the same time, Hongqi has also made it clear that it will vigorously develop overseas service networks, and by 2025, Hongqi will lay 700 Hongqi experience centers, more than 1,000 service networks and 600,000 energy replenishment terminals overseas. It can be said that among the current Chinese luxury brands, Hongqi's internationalization road is the farthest.

In fact, in our opinion, Hongqi is the brand that can best achieve the "international luxury car brand" in China. Hongqi not only represents Chinese automobiles in spirit, but also in terms of technology and service. We are confident that the Hongqi brand will continue to serve as a benchmark for China's luxury cars in the future, and will help China's auto industry achieve upward breakthroughs.