The car previously known as the Hongqi E009 is now called the EH5. It first debuted as a concept at this year’s Beijing Auto Show. Chinese media are now referring to the car as the EH5, the forthcoming electric sedan is smaller than the EH7. It has been spotted again testing, but this time, it has far less camouflage than before. Autohome claims that the Hongqi EH5 will be put into production in October 2025. We find this unlikely, given that the car has already been seen in near production-ready concept form at this year’s Beijing Auto Show, and reductions in camouflage usually indicate that a car is getting closer to launch. A launch in the first half of 2025 would seem far more likely. However, Hongqi does seem slow at doing things.
The EH5 has an enclosed grille with an air
intake underneath the fender. The hood has a considerable slope down to the
front, and overall, the car seems quite rounded, likely to reduce drag. From
the side, we can see there is still camouflage covering the door handles and
around the light clusters. The E009 concept, however, had hidden door handles,
and it is highly likely that the EH5 will inherit these. At the rear, the tail
light cluster should be similar to that seen on the concept, which has a near
continuous through tail light design broken, however, by the Hongqi badge. You
can also clearly see from one of the spy shots that the production car will
have Y-shaped light units similar to the concept.
The new car will be sold under the Hongqi
New Energy sub-brand, which eliminates the traditional red hood ornament.
Previous reports have suggested that a 150 kW electric motor will power the
car. The Hongqi EH7 measures 4980, 1915, 1490 mm and has a wheelbase
of 3000 mm. Presumably, the EH5 will be somewhere between 4700 mm long and the
length of the EH7.
