Driving the Dragon by Andrews Mark;

Author:Andrews, Mark; [Andrews, Mark;]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David & Charles Publishers

Rear seats of the Hongqi H7.

The front of the Hongqi H7 seemed more aimed at a chauffeur than an owner driver.

My test car had the smallest engine, a two-litre turbo unit self-developed by FAW.

Despite being an officially sanctioned test drive, the car was from a dealer, and I was limited to a certain route. This gave little chance to really test the car, but what was obvious was that this was a car more geared up for the back seat than the driver.

Whereas the front seats only got a heating function, the rear seats also gained ventilation and a massage function. Unusually, the seats were also electrically adjustable, with all the controls mounted on the fold-down armrest. This also gave access to the built-in fridge, one big enough for a bottle of champagne. Many of these features were more to be expected on a car such as the Bentley Flying Spur than an Audi competitor.

While there was plenty of good attention to details, such as the rear privacy blinds, ultimately, where the H7 fell down was execution. The rear seats were not supportive, and while the car did have soft plastics, they seemed to be easily scuffed. Obviously, Hongqi expected the car to be chauffeur-driven, and the H7 was not an engaging car to drive, or at least not with the 2.0T engine. It did, though, have its infotainment screen mounted in a much more usable position than the Flying Spur.

Sales for the first two months were exclusively to government ministries, and it is possible that most H7s, in fact, ended up in government hands.

At launch, the car was available only in black with a grey interior, limiting its appeal, although other colour options were added considerably later in the car’s life.

Sales of a new model in China usually peak pretty quickly, typically in the first or second year after the model’s launch, and then go down from then on. The H7 was quite an exception, with its best year in 2019, six years after its launch, when it sold 12,644. It’s not an outstanding number, but it’s better than the Senova D70 ever achieved, and it helped Hongqi ease onto its comeback road. It also helped prove that there was a market for large, more luxurious Chinese cars.

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