The new products of the pure electric platform and the intelligent platform were unveiled, and the Hongqi brand pressed the acceleration button for transformation and upgrading

Our reporters Yin Limei and Tong Haihua report from Beijing

In March this year, Zhang Yuzhuo, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and Gou Ping, deputy director of the State Council, delivered speeches on the development of new energy vehicle business of central enterprises on a number of public occasions, which attracted attention from inside and outside the industry to the electrification transformation of central enterprises.

In summary, they pointed out that the investment in the layout of new energy vehicles will be relatively large at the beginning, and its current profits should not be assessed, and policies should be introduced to break down relevant obstacles, and turn to the assessment of the technology, market share and future development of central enterprises. It also reminded that it is necessary to face up to the gaps and deficiencies in the development of new energy vehicles in central enterprises, and should increase resource investment and accelerate the pace of transformation. At the same time, it is necessary to boldly explore policies and measures to promote the "up" of new energy vehicles of central enterprises, and to accelerate innovation and "let go of hands and feet" to promote transformation.

The state-owned auto companies that Zhang Yuzhuo and Gou Ping refer to include China FAW, Dongfeng Group and Changan Automobile. The reporter of "China Business Daily" noted that in the context of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council's intention to promote the development of new energy vehicle business of central enterprises, including China FAW and other automobile central enterprises, are accelerating the layout.

In the case of FAW, Liu Yigong, 46, was appointed general manager of FAW on March 15. Then, on April 18, Qiu Xiandong, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of China FAW, released the "SIGHT (Insight) 531" development strategy of Qiqi Technology, and released the three major technology platforms of Hongqi brand pure electric, hybrid and intelligent.

At the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show, which kicked off on April 25, Hongqi brought a total of 22 products from its three major sub-brands to the show. Among them, the Hongqi Golden Sunflower brand participated in the international auto show for the first time, the dual flagship models of the Hongqi energy-saving car brand ushered in a new look, and the main hot-selling models launched plug-in hybrid versions, and Hongqi New Energy made its debut a number of new pure electric products based on the "Hongqi Tiangong" pure electric platform and the "Hongqi Jiuzhang" intelligent platform, further enriching the product lineup.

"In 2023, Hongqi established the strategy of 'All in' new energy vehicles, and at the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, three sub-brands of Hongqi Golden Sunflower, Hongqi Energy-saving Vehicle, and Hongqi New Energy were released. On April 25, on the stage of the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, Liu Yigong told reporters.

A new picture of the second phase of Hongqi's leapfrog development has emerged

Since announcing the "All in" new energy strategy in 2023, Hongqi has entered the second stage of the brand's leap development period.

In the strategic plan formulated by the Hongqi brand, it will compete for market share through the three sub-brands of Hongqi Golden Sunflower, Hongqi Energy-saving Vehicle and Hongqi New Energy.

At the press conference of this Beijing International Auto Show, Liu Yigong painted a new picture of the second phase of Hongqi's leapfrog development.

Among them, the Hongqi Golden Sunflower sub-brand aims at the top luxury travel track in China. At this year's Beijing International Auto Show, the Hongqi Golden Sunflower brand released a new product, the ultra-luxury executive sedan "Guoya", and accepted reservations from users around the world. So far, the four models of "Guoya", "Guoyao", "Guoli" and the luxury guest car "Guoyue" have formed the Golden Sunflower State Guest Team.

Hongqi's energy-saving car sub-brands are represented by two flagship models, the new Hongqi H9 and the 2024 Hongqi HQ9. Among them, the official guide price of the new Hongqi H9 is 329,800 yuan ~ 539,800 yuan, equipped with a 6-cylinder 3.0T supercharged engine, matched with a high-performance 8AT gearbox, and the 000 acceleration is 6.4 seconds, with two styling styles: "luxury business version" and "private fashion version", and the official guide price of the 2024 Hongqi HQ9 with a fully upgraded hybrid system is 358,800 yuan ~ 538,800 yuan, which is consistent with the fuel version.

The reporter saw at the Beijing International Auto Show that Hongqi H5 HEV, Hongqi HQ9 PHEV, Hongqi HQ9 PHEV, Hongqi HS9 PHEV, Hongqi HS7 PHEV, and Hongqi HS3 PHEV of Hongqi energy-saving car brands also made a collective appearance.

As an important carrier of the "All in" new energy strategy, Hongqi New Energy's sub-brand brought a number of new products based on the "Hongqi Tiangong" pure electric platform and the "Hongqi Jiuzhang" intelligent platform at the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show. The debut of a series of products demonstrated Hongqi's technological breakthroughs in the field of driving control and intelligence.

Among them, the medium and large SUV Hongqi EHS7 was officially unveiled at the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show, and it is a representative product carefully created by Hongqi for new noble family users.

Hongqi told reporters that Hongqi EHS7 is equipped with 22 high-precision sensors, which can monitor the surrounding environment in real time with 360 degrees without dead angles, and brake or dodge with millisecond response speed. In terms of battery safety, Hongqi pioneered the hexahedral insulation technology of battery cells, and applied aviation-grade thermal insulation materials, which can isolate 10 thousand volts and 1000 degrees Celsius high temperature. In addition, it is equipped with a "cloud battery safety guard" that can use big data and intelligent algorithms to conduct a real-time physical examination of the battery to ensure that each battery cell is in a healthy state at all times.

It is worth noting that Hongqi EHS7 is based on the "Hongqi Chapter 9" and the flying blade architecture, and breaks through more than 100 key technologies such as SOA software architecture and vehicle-level OTA.

The degradation of electric vehicle range in winter is the biggest pain point for electric vehicle owners. The reporter learned that equipped with the industry's first low-temperature battery cell and integrated air conditioning thermal management system, Hongqi EHS7 can achieve an ultra-long endurance of 730 kilometers and a battery life retention rate of 70% in winter.

Previously, in an interview with reporters, Hongqi told reporters that in the context of high-quality development of the industry, continuous innovation and iteration of independent technology, and renewal and upgrading of consumer demand, Hongqi launched three major sub-brands to meet the needs of more consumers for multi-scenario vehicles.

It can be seen that Hongqi has upgraded the brand architecture, which has played a role in accelerating the pace of new product launches, as well as helping Hongqi brand to achieve the strategic goal of "All in" new energy.

Continue to increase electrification and intelligence

In FAW's business map, Hongqi, its own brand, is the most important piece of the puzzle.

At present, the competition in the automotive industry is mainly focused on electrification and intelligent transformation, which is also the business direction in which Hongqi brand has invested the most energy.

China's FAW has set a target for the Hongqi brand to achieve total sales of more than 1 million units by 2025, including more than 500,000 new energy vehicles, and by 2030 to exceed 1.5 million units, with new energy vehicles becoming the main sales force. The reporter noted that in 2023, the cumulative sales of the Hongqi brand will be 370,000 units, and the sales volume of Hongqi brand new energy vehicles will be 85,000 units, accounting for only 23% of the total sales, which is still far from the set target.

A generally accepted view is that the core of the transformation of traditional car companies to new energy is to accelerate the breakthrough of core technologies.

"China FAW will deeply implement the 'SUCCEED 531' planning outline and the technology development strategy of Qiqi, accelerate the control of key core technologies, resolutely establish a national automobile brand, continuously enhance core functions, improve core competitiveness, and accelerate the construction of China FAW into a world-class mobility technology company. Qiu Xiandong said recently.

The reporter learned from China FAW that in the next five years, the Hongqi brand will focus on key technical directions, and will focus on overcoming 983 key core technologies, building three major technology platforms and empowering them iteratively.

The "three major technology platforms" refer to the "Hongqi Tiangong" pure electric platform HME, the "Hongqi Honghu" hybrid platform HMP, and the "Hongqi Jiuzhang" intelligent platform HIS.

Specifically, the "Hongqi Tiangong" pure electric platform HME is a new modular pure electric platform built by the Hongqi brand, covering the A-class to C+-level pure electric vehicles of the Hongqi brand. The "Hongqi Honghu" hybrid platform HMP is a new modular hybrid platform of the Hongqi brand, which takes into account both horizontal and vertical configurations, covering the A-class to C+-level hybrid models of the Hongqi brand. The "Hongqi Chapter 9" intelligent platform HIS is an intelligent, digital and experiential technology platform based on the flying blade architecture, which is the main carrier for high-level artificial intelligence-enabled mobility, aiming to provide solutions with leading technology and experience, service and cost.

In addition to continuous changes in technological innovation, China FAW and Hongqi brands are also constantly expanding the "circle of friends" to achieve the effect of "1+1>2".

In February this year, the first strategic base of new energy vehicle power batteries in Northeast China, jointly built by China FAW and BYD, was officially put into operation. The total planned production capacity of the project is 45GWh, and the first phase of construction is 15GWh, using BYD's most advanced blade battery technology, combined with a module-free and highly integrated design scheme, which can balance the three major difficulties of power battery safety, high endurance and long life, and the first batch of products will be equipped with Hongqi's new pure electric vehicles.

A week ago, in order to empower the new energy vehicle business, China FAW announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with ECARX Technology on intelligent cockpits, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with DJI Automotive on intelligent driving.

According to the cooperation agreement, China FAW and ECARX will start a comprehensive strategic cooperation in the field of intelligent cockpit, give full play to their respective advantages, cooperate in the design and development of cockpit domain control-related products, cooperation and co-creation of eco-terminal related products, and ecological operation and maintenance of the Internet of Vehicles, establish full-stack R&D capabilities of "end-pipe-cloud" integration of intelligent cockpit, and jointly build a highly competitive Hongqi intelligent cockpit and Hongqi OS.

China FAW and DJI Automotive will start a comprehensive strategic cooperation in the field of intelligent driving, focusing on combining their respective professional advantages in the research and development process of Hongqi models, strengthening collaborative innovation in high-level autonomous driving platforms, end-to-end intelligent travel, advanced high-performance sensors, etc., and jointly creating technology-leading intelligent driving solutions and leading the direction of intelligent driving technology.

(Editor: Zhang Shuo Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Yan Jingning)