FAW Hongqi opened pre-sales for the all-new H9 on 7 November, and the flagship saloon arrives with a price ladder that starts lower than the outgoing car's. Four versions are on offer, with first-enjoy pre-sale prices running from 329,800 to 419,800 yuan, and the entry Luxury Max trim opening at 329,800 yuan. A 2,000 yuan deposit is worth 7,000 yuan off the car, and pre-sale buyers also get a 21,000 yuan subsidy towards the top driver-assistance package.
Photo: JustAnotherCarDesigner / Wikimedia Commons (CC0) — Illustrative: current-generation Hongqi H9.
Huawei's hardware goes upmarket
The big change is on the roof. The H9 is the first Hongqi to carry Qiankun ADS 5 Max, Huawei's highest-volume driver-assistance setup, built around a single 896-line dual-optical-path image-grade lidar supported by three solid-state blind-spot lidars. The same system runs city and highway navigation assist plus automated parking. Inside, the car uses Huawei's HarmonySpace 3 cabin, which puts navigation, voice and vehicle settings on one coherent software stack rather than the patchwork of apps most Chinese flagships still juggle.
Chassis work, not just electronics
Hongqi has also rebuilt the running gear. The electronically controlled dampers switch damping in milliseconds, and the iDCS continuous damping control adjusts across a wide range to suppress high-frequency harshness from coarse tarmac, which matters more in a rear-executive saloon than a drag-strip time. The car keeps a longitudinal-engine layout with rear-drive underpinnings, and the plug-in hybrid version is quoted at up to 1,410 km of combined range, a figure aimed squarely at buyers who drive long intercity distances with a driver rather than drive themselves.
Photo: Jengtingchen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Illustrative: current-generation Hongqi H9.
Same suit, new tailoring
Visually the car stays conservative on purpose. The waterfall grille, the flag-emblem lamp above it and the full-width U-shaped light bar at the tail all carry over from Hongqi's current design language, because the H9's buyers are company fleets, government pools and private owners who want the car to look like a Hongqi. The interesting comparison is with the NIO ET9 and the Maextro S800: both cost far more, and neither carries a 1,410 km range claim. At 329,800 yuan, Hongqi is pricing the H9 as the value option in Chinese executive saloons, now with Huawei's assistance stack as the reason to look twice.
- Pre-sales opened 7 November: 329,800-419,800 yuan, four versions
- First Hongqi with Huawei Qiankun ADS 5 Max and an 896-line lidar
- Three solid-state blind-spot lidars; HarmonySpace 3 cabin
- Electronically controlled dampers with iDCS continuous damping control
- Plug-in hybrid quoted at up to 1,410 km of combined range