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China-made beast of a car
Top News| 1 Jul 2022
Xi Jinping's Hongqi N501. SING TAOPresident Xi Jinping rode in a Chinese-made bulletproof luxury limousine specially made for state leaders for the first time in Hong Kong during his visit.
It is an upgraded version of his usual vehicle Hongqi N501. The N501, in turn, is a modified version for state leaders of the manufacturer's flagship limousine model Hongqi L5. The L5 sells for 5 million yuan (HK$5.85 million).
This is the first time Xi traveled in a Hongqi vehicle in Hong Kong. He rode in a BMW 7-series luxury limousine provided by the SAR in his last visit five years ago and a Mercedes-Benz S-class while visiting Macau in 2019.
Hongqi, currently a subsidiary of automaker FAW Car Co, is the oldest car manufacturer in China. It was founded in 1959 and mainly used to manufacture vehicles for high-level government officials. The brand name Hongqi means "red flag" in Chinese.
The front of the vehicle Xi rode is similar to the manufacturer's newest stretched sedan Hongqi H9+, which was released last year.
The Hongqi H9+ has a three-liter gasoline V6 supercharged engine with a 208kW mild hybrid system and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, powering the vehicle that weighs nearly two tonnes. But the rear still resembles the usual N501, which Xi usually used when paying official visits to other countries in the past. The N501, which is not for sale, is a vehicle based on the platform of another limousine by German car manufacturer - the Audi A6L - and made by a joint venture consisting of Volkswagen group, which owns Audi, and FAW group.
The vehicle is a massive 5.5 meters long and weighs at least 3.1 tonnes, and is powered by a four-liter V8 petrol engine, producing around 380 horsepower - similar to a Mercedes-Benz S-class luxury sedan, with an eight-speed automatic gearbox.
The design of the vehicle is similar to its predecessor, Hongqi CA770, which was used to carry state leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in the 1990s.
The N501 made its debut when Xi paid a visit to Senegal in July 2018, catching the attention of the automobile industry worldwide. The FAW group started the development of the N501 only two years before in 2016.
Xi also rode in the N501 while participating in the G20 summit in Argentina a few months later, as well as in visits to Italy, France, Monaco, Russia, North Korea, Japan and India in 2019.
It is a basic requirement for state leaders' vehicles to be bulletproof with other special functions, though it is a usual practice for countries around the world not to announce the specification and safety factor of those vehicles. But it is said the N501 is equipped with a high-level armor that can withstand heavy firing and even direct impact from bombs.
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