Hongqi: the honest brand comparison
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
The verdict
Hongqi sells exactly one car in this research — the E-HS9 — and it is both the finest cabin of any Chinese EV here and the most comprehensively failed ownership proposition. Early Norwegian reviewers put its material quality above a Mercedes EQS. By 2026, the owner-feedback roundup called the parts and software situation "catastrophic," and a 2021 flagship with 70,000 km was being advertised for export at $18,800 — roughly an 80% collapse from new EU pricing. The E-HS9 is what happens when a company builds a Rolls-Royce and staffs it like a startup: magnificent object, orphaned at birth.
Where Hongqi wins
The cabin, the presence, the sheer audacity of it. Giles Taylor — the man who designed Rolls-Royces — gave Hongqi a 5.2-meter full-size SUV with a boxy Cullinan silhouette, and the interior that resulted made professional reviewers reach for the Rolls-Royce comparison without being paid to: real wood, brushed steel, quilted everything, rear quarters like a private jet's economy section. "Material quality and feel is superior to a Mercedes-Benz EQS" is not a claim this research makes lightly — it is what the Norwegian testers said. The ride is properly plush, the acceleration effortless (551 hp in the top car, 0–100 in 4.9 seconds), and the EU-exclusive 120 kWh battery was a genuine flagship spec. For a brief window in 2021–2022, no car on earth offered this much interior per euro. The early press was not hype; it was disbelief that the object existed. And for a contrarian with a big driveway, that object still exists — at half price or less.
Where Hongqi loses
Everything after the purchase, which for a luxury car is the purchase. The 2026 owner-feedback picture is an obituary: Hongqi could not supply timely spare parts or consistent software updates, and for a €80,000–€103,000 car that is not a weakness, it is a disqualification — "the inability to provide timely spare parts and consistent software updates proved catastrophic," and the "rapid depreciation witnessed in the current used car market" followed directly. The boxy silhouette that gives it character is an aerodynamic brick: real-world range disappointed owners who did the motorway math. The Norwegian cars shipped without auto-steer at all. The adaptive cruise was poorly calibrated. There is no Euro NCAP rating. DC charging tops out at 140 kW — adequate on paper, glacial on a 120 kWh battery. EU tariffs now bite on top of all of it. And the market has rendered its verdict with the coldness of an auction hammer: a 2021 Flagship with 70,000 km offered for export at $18,800. The quietest fact in this file is the social one — Threads has Hongqi concept posts and nothing on the E-HS9, the owner groups are invisible, and the only long-form English verdict is one 2026 roundup. Early Norwegian awe curdled into silence. Nobody is even angry anymore.
The matchups
E-HS9 vs used BMW iX: the old-money question. The iX is what a functioning luxury-EV company looks like: a 2024 xDrive50 at $43–45k — past the early recalls, hardware proven, factory warranty to 2028, and the first owner already ate ~45% depreciation. It has its own software-theater (power-loss recall fixed OTA, charging-handshake shrugs, one viral fleet-driver vent) but BMW issues the fixes and the dealers exist. The E-HS9 at distressed money undercuts the iX and out-theaters it — nothing on the road has this presence per euro — but the iX gets repaired and updated while the Hongqi waits for an importer to find a part. Verdict: the iX is the car; the E-HS9 is the object. Objects are for people who already own a car.
E-HS9 vs used Tesla Model X: the door fight versus the range fight. The Model X is the more usable 7-seat EV — Supercharger network, 2022 cars at ~$50k (37% of peak-era MSRP), the 8-year/150k battery warranty still running to 2030. But its signature failure is a decade old and still alive: falcon-wing doors malfunctioned on a one-week-old 2026 car, stranding an owner's wife with two toddlers, service three weeks out; suspension is the #1 NHTSA complaint area. The E-HS9's cabin embarrasses the X's, but the X embarrasses the E-HS9's parts pipeline. Verdict: the X for the buyer who needs the car to work; the E-HS9 for the buyer who needs it to stun. Neither is sane new.
E-HS9 vs Kia EV9: the conquest-car comparison. The EV9 is the darling of the family-hauler crowd — Tesla defectors posting "I love the car!", native NACS on 2026s, $10,000 Bonus Cash plus the credit stacking, real Kia dealers (grumbly about EVs, but present). It carries its own sins: a seat-bolt recall on 2024s, 47% depreciation in two years, a July 2026 battery-defect recall, and the ICCU saga haunting the platform. But the EV9's failures are recall-documented and warrantied; the E-HS9's are importer-documented and shrugged at. Verdict: the EV9 is the luxury-value play that actually functions as transportation. The Hongqi only wins if "Rolls-Royce presence at X7 money" is the whole brief.
The support question
Importer roulette. Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Iceland got small importer networks from 2021–2022; Germany joined in 2024 from €80,000. Parts supply has been slow and inconsistent throughout — the documented 2026 verdict, not a rumor. Warranty terms vary by market and importer; no unified EU standard exists. Software updates arrive when the importer feels like it. China has the full FAW/Hongqi network, which helps no one in Bergen. EU EV tariffs now complicate the arithmetic further. A buyer in 2026 is betting on importers that have already struggled with logistics, for a car the market has already written down 80%. This is not a support network; it is a series of enthusiasts with shipping accounts.
Who should buy, who should skip
Buy an E-HS9 only used, only at distressed money — half of list or less — and only if you treat it as an exotic: budget for waits, source parts through importers, and never let it be your only car. The 2024 cars are the sweet spot: latest EU hardware (120 kWh, faster charging), and by then every weakness was documented, so you negotiate with your eyes open. Skip it new at €80,000–€103,000 — a used iX or EV9 with a real network behind it is the sane money. Skip the 2021–2022 cars: no auto-steer, ACC calibration complaints, and you would have absorbed the full depreciation cliff. Skip it entirely if you need dealer support within a day's drive, if long motorway distances are your life, or if the phrase "parts on back order" raises your blood pressure. This is a heart car with a patience tax.
The bottom line
One sentence for a friend: the E-HS9 is China's most beautiful luxury object and its worst luxury ownership proposition — price it like the orphan it is, or walk away.