The new Hongqi L5 is preparing to enter the market: retro style and price at Rolls-Royce level

The second generation Hongqi L5 executive sedan has appeared in the electronic database of the Chinese Ministry of Industry, its main technical characteristics have become known before the imminent start of sales.< br/>

The premiere of the second generation Hongqi L5 took place in April of this year at the Shanghai Motor Show, but then, in fact, only the design was declassified, there was no information about the technical stuffing.

Remember that the L5 is the flagship model of the luxury brand Hongqi, owned by the Chinese state-owned automaker FAW. The first generation sedan with the index L5 debuted in 2013 as a purely nomenclature model, based on the Hongqi SA series sedans and limousines from the 60s of the last century. The “first” Hongqi L5 had an overall length of 5555 mm, initially it was equipped with a 6.0-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

In 2016, FAW decided to introduce the Hongqi brand to the people and launched the L5 sedan into retail sales, at the same time a more modern power unit was prepared for it — a 4.0-liter V8 biturbo engine and an 8-speed automatic transmission.

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The market career of the Hongqi brand turned out to be quite successful: as the model range expanded, sales also grew; from January to September of this year, Hongqi, according to CAAM, sold 249,170 cars in China (+17.6% compared to last year), but the Hongqi L5 continues to remain a piece goods for very wealthy and patriotic clients. It was for them that the second generation of the sedan was developed in the spirit of the early bureaucratic Hongqi, that is, the retro style was preserved, but the body was completely new.

The overall length of the “second” Hongqi L5 is 5980 mm, width – 2090 mm, height – 1710 mm, wheelbase – 3730 mm. The 4.0-liter supercharged V8 engine, as we suspected, is borrowed from the large Hongqi LS7 crossover; in the sedan it produces 380 hp, which, frankly, is not much by modern standards. Top speed is limited to 220 km/h. Curb weight is 3150 kg, standard wheels are 21-inch. The starting price of the new Hongqi L5 will be about 5,000,000 yuan (66.5 million rubles at current exchange rates) — approximately the same price as the new Rolls-Royce Ghost in China.

In the spring of this year, the Hongqi brand officially entered the Russian market; we recently tested the Hongqi H5 business sedan. The appearance of the flagship Hongqi L5 in our country is possible, but unlikely — the style of this model is, let's say, specific, and the price with all the customs, logistics, tax and dealer markups will be absolutely exorbitant.