Hongqi E-HS9
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Hongqi E-HS9 review: China's Rolls-Royce, stranded by its own support network
The E-HS9 is for the contrarian with a big driveway who wants Cullinan presence at X7 money — and who has a backup car for the months when Hongqi can't find a spare part. Verdict: a genuinely opulent machine that its own maker let down.
What it is. A 5.2-meter full-size electric luxury SUV from Hongqi, FAW's flagship brand and China's oldest carmaker, styled under ex-Rolls-Royce design chief Giles Taylor. Norway got it first in 2021; the Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland followed, then Germany in 2024 from €80,000. Dual-motor all-wheel drive, 436 or 551 hp, batteries from 76.5 up to a 120 kWh EU-exclusive pack, 0–100 in 4.9 seconds, and seating for six or seven in surroundings that made early reviewers reach for the Rolls-Royce comparisons without being paid to.
What's genuinely good. The cabin. Full stop. Reviewers in Norway — people who drive everything Chinese and European — called the material quality superior to a Mercedes EQS: real wood, brushed steel, quilted everything, rear quarters that feel like a private jet's economy section. The ride is properly plush, the road presence is absolute, and the performance is effortless. For a brief window in 2021–2022, this was the most interior-per-euro you could buy anywhere, and the early press (Kris Rifa, Bjorn Nyland) was not hype — it was disbelief that this existed.
What's actually wrong. Everything after the purchase. The 2026 owner-feedback picture is brutal: Hongqi could not supply timely spare parts or consistent software updates, and for a €80k–€100k luxury car, that kills the proposition stone dead — "the inability to provide timely spare parts and consistent software updates proved catastrophic." Real-world range disappointed because the boxy Cullinan silhouette is an aerodynamic brick; the adaptive cruise was poorly calibrated; the Norwegian cars shipped without auto-steer at all. There's no Euro NCAP rating. DC charging tops out at 140 kW, which is merely adequate on a 120 kWh battery. And the used market has rendered its verdict: a 2021 flagship with 70,000 km was being advertised for export at $18,800 in 2026 — an 80% collapse from new EU pricing. Skip it if you need dealer support within a day's drive, you do long motorway distances, or the words "parts on back order" make you twitch. This is a car you buy with your heart and service with your patience.
The social pulse. There isn't one, really — that's the story. Threads has Hongqi concept-car posts and nothing on the E-HS9; the Facebook owner groups are invisible to outsiders; the accessible record is a handful of YouTube reviews from 2021 and one 2026 owner-feedback roundup that reads like an obituary. The early Norwegian enthusiasm curdled into the quietest kind of buyer's remorse: not anger, just silence. Nobody is astroturfing this car. Nobody needs to — the depreciation did all the talking.
The value call. New, at €80,000–€103,000 in Germany, it's indefensible against a used X7 or an iX with a real dealer network behind it. Used, at distressed money — think half of list or less — it's a spectacularly cheap way into genuine luxury, provided you treat it as an exotic: budget for waits, source parts through importers, and never let it be your only car. Nearest alternatives: used BMW iX (better support, less theatre), used Tesla Model X (faster charging, worse cabin). Sweet-spot year: 2024 — latest EU hardware, biggest battery, and by then every weakness was documented so you negotiate with your eyes open. Skip 2021–2022 — the first EU batch with the ACC issues, no auto-steer, and the full depreciation cliff still ahead of it.
Magnificent object. Terrible ownership proposition. Price it like the orphan it is, or walk away.