To design its hypercar for the future, Silk-FAW went where anyone with an eye for design and a taste for the excessive goes: Italy. The result is a car that features all of the performance figures you could hope for. Off the line, the Hongqi S9 will get you from 0-62 mph in just 1.9 seconds. From there, it will go all the way up to 400 km/h. That’s thanks to a 1,400 hp hybrid driveline that pairs a V8T hybrid power system that pairs an engine to three electric motors.
The design, meanwhile, was led by the
legendary Walter De Silva. The VP of Styling and Design at Silk-FAW has, in the
past, designed such stunners as the Audi R8, the Lamborghini Egoista, and even
more quotidian things like the modern Volkswagen Scirocco.
First unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show
in 2019, the Hongqi S9 has undergone some changes since its first public
outing. The overall design has been thoroughly simplified and red paint has
replaced the blue paint of the original.
That stands to reason, since Hongqi means
red flag. The Hongqi brand is one of China’s best established and has been
around since 1958. Silk-FAW, meanwhile, was developed with the specific goal of
making high-performance, new energy sports vehicles.
They will also be quite special,
since only 99 of these hypercars are expected to ever leave the factory. The
first batch, priced at US$ 1.45 million, is expected to be handed over to
customers in 2022.
