In 2024, with the official price cuts announced by major car manufacturers and the declaration of the superiority of electricity over oil, China's new energy market officially entered the era of domestic explosion.

In the era of new energy, Hongqi will naturally not be absent, and the Hongqi EH7 is the big weapon for Hongqi to enter this red ocean market.

As the main force in the new energy market for the Hongqi brand, the Hongqi EH7 has fully equipped the black technology that belongs to Hongqi in terms of appearance aesthetics, smart cockpit, safety protection, and endurance.

As a big weapon, since it bears the reputation of the Hongqi brand, all the confidence behind it naturally comes from the strength of Hongqi's self-research.

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Can Hongqi EH7 really fight? What kind of technology does it have? The following content, we will unfold one by one.

Part 1: Exterior design

Whether a car can attract consumers' attention, the first feeling is always the information conveyed by the exterior design elements.

Although, the Hongqi EH7 was just launched on March 20, 2024, I had the honor to see this car in advance near my community, and the first feeling it gave me was: "I have never seen this new car full of Chinese aesthetic elements from Hongqi?"

On the Hongqi EH7, the first thing that caught my attention was the new logo of the Hongqi EH7, which is shown below. This logo can make me feel that it comes from Hongqi, but also has a touch of natural and smart aesthetics.

On both sides of the logo are the Hongqi EH7's matrix headlamps for high and low beams, which, together with the front grille of the Hongqi EH7, form a smiling front face, making this car very recognizable in daily life.Secondly, when you move to the rear of the vehicle, you will also notice the taillight design that spreads out like wings, which echoes the logo at the front of the car.

In addition to these unique design elements of the Red Flag brand, when we come to the side of the car, we will also notice some ingenious thoughts in the car's body structure.

For example, to optimize the endurance, the Red Flag EH7 has adopted a hidden door handle and a low wind resistance design concept of wind wing streamline, which makes the car's shape look very technological.

On the basis of taking care of the external aesthetics, the Red Flag EH7 has also moved the A-pillar forward and the C-pillar backward in the design, which allows the Red Flag EH7 to build a smart car body while also achieving greater optimization of the interior space.

It needs to be emphasized that the Red Flag EH7 is not optimized because the car body is small, but it has achieved more utilization of the interior space on the premise that the car itself is large enough.

Here, I will show you a set of official data, the three-dimensional size of the Red Flag EH7 is 4980×1915×1490 (mm), which is basically the same as the three-dimensional data of the 2023 BYD Han EV.

However, based on the design of the Red Flag EH7's A-pillar forward and C-pillar backward, the wheelbase of the EH7 has reached 3 meters, which is longer than the 2.92 meters of the 2023 BYD Han.

Therefore, the positioning of the Red Flag EH7 is not a small car, but a large family pure electric car.

Part 2: Interior DesignAfter discussing the exterior, let's briefly talk about the interior of the Hongqi EH7.

We'll start with the overall perception.

Upon entering the vehicle, the most striking feature is the panoramic skylight of the Hongqi EH7. This large skylight, measuring 1.96 square meters, not only covers all passengers in the first and second rows but also provides a UV blockage rate of ≥99% and a heat insulation rate of ≥80%.

Under this panoramic skylight, the interior is equipped with a 256-color immersive ambient lighting system in a wrap-around design.

In addition to what is directly visible, Hongqi EH7 also offers soft-touch materials for the interior trim and seats that are highly comfortable. It also features a 1640W high-power amplifier output, which, when combined with the titanium diaphragm high-frequency technology audio system and 280W subwoofer across all models, provides a concert hall-level music experience for all passengers.

Of course, for the immersive experience in listening to music and driving, Hongqi EH7 has also made many redundant design efforts in the vehicle's quiet insulation. For example, the interior of Hongqi EH7 uses highly sound-absorbing two-component cotton; there are 13 noise-reducing strips installed on the car doors; and key areas such as the front enclosure, carpet, under the seats, wheel housings, and trunk have been fully covered with sound insulation materials.

This makes the overall interior of Hongqi EH7 feel premium in terms of sound, light, and touch perception.

For a specific experience, you can visit your local Hongqi 4S store to get a real sense of it, and I believe the Hongqi EH7 will not disappoint you.

After introducing what you can see and perceive inside the car, let's return to the driver's seat and talk about the system experience of this pure electric model, the Hongqi EH7, in terms of its vehicle system.

Let's start with the hardware. Hongqi has equipped the EH7 with a 6-inch full LCD instrument cluster, a 15-inch irregular screen, and a 63-inch AR HUD.Based on such hardware configuration, Hongqi's intermediate alien screen will subsequently be provided with integrated car washing mode, rest mode, and baby mode through OTA for multi-scenario applications by the task master.

It offers intelligent prediction that focuses on high-frequency and urgent travel scenarios to proactively push related services; it supports Lingxi Voice Interaction 2.0, which allows for hands-free activation and continuous 20-second conversations; and it also provides features such as a car electronic sticky note, lucky coin, and drifting water cup in the dynamic and fun corner.

The AR HUD has realized the integration of navigation, ADAS driving assistance information, and road reality scenes, allowing drivers to be warned of road hazards through the car's hardware perception during the driving process, thereby enhancing the overall driving experience and safety.

Of course, as a car machine system independently developed by Hongqi based on the FMEs platform architecture, the technological features of the Hongqi EH7 are far more than these.

After all, as a large family car positioned as the Hongqi EH7, safety is the most fundamental attribute of a car above luxury, comfort, and technology.

So, what exactly is hidden in the interior technology of the Hongqi EH7? In the next section about safety, I will elaborate for everyone.

Part 3: Safety and Independent Research and Development

Here, let's start with the ultimate performance of the Hongqi EH7.

When we introduce this car, we have actually overlooked that it is a heavy monster that can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in just 3.5 seconds.Behind such acceleration performance lies the fact that the Hongqi EH7 is equipped with a high-performance electric motor developed by Hongqi itself, which can reach a rotation speed of 22,500 r/min. The peak power of the front drive motor can reach 202 kW, while the peak power of the rear drive motor can reach 253 kW.

Electric vehicles, due to the added weight of the battery, often generate much greater kinetic energy and impact force than gasoline vehicles during collisions.

Therefore, if an electric vehicle cannot redesign the body strength, it will inevitably affect the safety of all passengers on board.

Looking back at the Hongqi EH7, the use of high-strength steel in this vehicle has reached 74%, with the ultra-high-strength hot-formed boron steel accounting for 22%. The steel strength of the one-piece side reinforcement door ring is even up to 2000 MPa.

Here, the Hongqi EH7 uses genuine materials to maintain the last line of defense in the event of a collision.

In addition to the last line of defense, Hongqi has also equipped the EH7 with front Brembo fixed calipers, controlling the braking distance from 100 km/h to a stop at 35.3 meters for this performance beast.

Furthermore, the 5 cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars of the Hongqi EH7, in conjunction with the front and rear AEB functions equipped on the EH7, can also prevent collisions as much as possible.

Beyond passive safety, the Hongqi EH7 has also added life detection capabilities to the in-car system experience. The EH7 can perceive the heart rate, breathing frequency, facial expressions, and driving status of the occupants through the OMS camera and in-car sensors, thereby providing active care for the driver.

At the same time, this perception is also used by the Hongqi EH7 for reminders of forgotten items inside the car and for the active care of children and pets in the vehicle.It should be additionally noted that the Hongqi EH7's proactive exploration in safety is all thanks to Hongqi's strong in-house research and development capabilities. For instance, the entire vehicle architecture of the Hongqi EH7 is built on the Hongqi self-developed FMEs platform. This allows Hongqi to achieve an integrated modular combination for the functional development of the pure electric large sedan EH7. Here, let's mention a technical detail that everyone can perceive for themselves: the AI health assistant of the Hongqi EH7 is not just an assistant for the in-car entertainment system; it can also actively perceive the real-time status of the vehicle's six major systems, including the battery, body, power, and chassis, thereby making more reasonable proactive adjustments for the owner's use of the vehicle.

Of course, such hardware perception capabilities are also, to a certain extent, aided by the self-developed batteries and electric motors of Hongqi. The in-house development of these core components allows Hongqi to customize the functional combinations according to its own needs when manufacturing the EH7.

Furthermore, there are many black technologies and technical details about the Hongqi EH7 that have not been mentioned, such as the CLTC range of 820 km based on Hongqi's self-developed 111 kWh ultra-large battery. Additionally, this battery can replenish 215 km of range in just 5 minutes, which to some extent addresses the range anxiety of electric vehicle owners.

For example, the Hongqi EH7 also has active air quality monitoring sensors inside the vehicle, and it comes with a range of assisted driving features such as automatic parking, lane keeping, and reverse tracking. Moreover, the chassis of the Hongqi EH7 features a front virtual kingpin double wishbone + rear five-link suspension system, and it has adopted full aluminum craftsmanship for lightweight purposes.

In summary, the Hongqi EH7 gives me the impression of being a well-crafted vehicle that invests its costs in safety and areas that are not immediately visible.Unlike some products that pursue electronicization, where simply stating the number of displays or the size of the monitor can give consumers an immediate perception, the essence of the Hongqi EH7 lies in its role as a representative of the Hongqi brand. The more you understand, the more trust you place in its quality.

After all, when it comes to after-sales service, reputation, technology, and culture, not all domestic cars are called —— Hongqi.

As it takes on the responsibility that belongs to the Hongqi brand, and as Hongqi presents a new product based on safety in this electronic age of fast-moving automotive consumer goods, the Hongqi EH7 has officially taken a solid step in Hongqi's journey to compete in the new energy market.