After having been trotted out at car show after car show, and after having been relentlessly covered by occasional TTAC contributor Tycho de Feyter of Carnewschina, China’s “Red Flag” Hongqi H7 Sedan is finally going “on sale to the public tomorrow after a $300 million overhaul, pitting the symbol of Communist privilege against Volkswagen AG’s Audi for China’s elite,” reports Bloomberg from China, where the wire was blocked last year.
The car can be bought in a 5,400 square feet Red Flag outlet “at Beijing’s upscale Jinbao shopping street, home to dealerships for Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz,” says Bloomberg.
Before it went on sale to the public, Red Flag cars received prominent exposure. Says Bloomberg:
“In April, French President Francois Hollande was ferried in a Red Flag L5 limousine during his state visit to China. The automaker sent 20 Red Flag sedans to Fiji for use at the Group of Seventy Seven summit.
The car was included by China’s Commerce Ministry among items the government may donate to foreign countries and the automaker said it’s actively liaising with Chinese embassies and overseas governments to “fly the Red Flag in all corners of the world.”
According to Carnewschina, “the vehicle is based in body and platform on the Toyota Crown that is made in China by the FAW-Toyota joint venture. Three engines: a FAW-developed 2.0 turbo with 201hp and 260nm, and two V-sixes from Toyota: a 2.5 with 201hp and 242nm and a 3.0 with 228hp and 300nm, these two engines also power the Toyota Crown.”
No matter how exclusive you try to make an automobile, if the people don’t want it because it has no perceived value, it’s worthless.
Wo bu yao le!
Ni bu yao ma?
Wo ken ding yao booyah!
Wo xiang dai yi ge qui LeMons bi sai :D
Hongqi tonk, should be popular with the country/western crowd!
Its successor, the Hongqi H8, will be as popular as the Escalade with the hip hop crowd.
A black Hongqi. The irony is strong in this one.
What you did there…. I see it.
This post couldn’t even make it to two replies without a Hongqi joke.
It’s pronounced “HONG” “CHEE” as the Q makes a “CH” sound.
Not in the US of A. Therein lies the joch.
Similarly, I don’t use the following pronunciations: Chermany, Neekadogwah, Frahnce, or Mayheeko.
Guess you’ll never be a rapporteur for CNN.
It took me more time than it was worth to decipher “Neekadogwah”. Geez…
C’mon, it was hilarious. I thought I could hear Amanpour’s garlicky breathing.
Depends on what language you are speaking. When speaking English, one does not say:
Varsova instead of Warsaw
Firenze instead of Florence
Roma instead of Rome
Paree instead of Paris
Hwares instead of Warez (Juarez)
Mehico instead of Mexico
The list goes on and on.
@BTSR
Heh…. laowai… what’re ya gonna do?
I’m not sure the name “Red Flag” is one that carries a positive conotation for an automobile.
Since they’re competing against Audi, and Audi == VW == Beetle, maybe they should have gone with Black Flag. Still, could be worse. If they’d partnered with a French car maker, it’d have to be called White Flag.
Actually, the top picture offers a suggestion of what Lincoln should try to look like.
Or what Buick already is.
Finally a worthy competitor for Russian ZILs.
So that’s where the Panther went.
On a FWD Toyota unibody platform? I don’t think so. The carriage trade would notice, though the average retail buyer wouldn’t. The carriage trade is more important than retail, otherwise Toyota would have filled the niche by now.
The Toyota Crown is RWD.
I don’t know what kind of cars are popular in the Japanese carriage trade, but chances are premium RWD Toyotas and Nissans top the list.
The Toyota Crown is basically the Japanese Crown Vic. Simple, rugged, RWD, and ubiquitous among police ad taxis.
Sweet, a badge-engineered Crown!
Hongqi H7 needs rimz. Maybe a set of thuddies. Then wrap it in a KFC ad written in Chinese.
It’s the red flag with complete IPR, that we are waiting for to go public.