Hongqi, meaning Red Flag, is China’s oldest car brand by a considerable margin, tracing its history back to 1958, when it built the country’s first domestically produced car under the state owned FAW Group, formally First Automobile Works. For decades, Hongqi’s defining role was building limousines for Chinese state occasions and senior government officials, a kind of Chinese equivalent to the way Rolls-Royce or Bentley are associated with British royalty and heads of state elsewhere, a reputation that still shapes how the brand is perceived at home today.
Hongqi
Founded: 1958 (relaunched as a standalone premium brand around 2018) HQ: Changchun, Jilin, China Parent: FAW Group Official website ↗
Last updated: August 1, 2026
Hongqi Overview
For much of its history, Hongqi remained a niche, largely ceremonial brand rather than a genuine mass market competitor. That changed significantly from around 2018 onward, when FAW relaunched Hongqi as a proper standalone premium marque aimed at ordinary, if wealthy, private buyers rather than exclusively government fleets. The results have been striking: Hongqi’s sales grew rapidly through the early 2020s, expanding well beyond its traditional political and ceremonial customer base.
Hongqi’s modern lineup spans a genuinely wide range, from petrol powered SUVs and saloons to a growing family of electric and plug in hybrid models, alongside its continued production of vast, ultra formal limousines like the Guoya, essentially China’s answer to a Bentley or Rolls-Royce, complete with an optional V8 engine, sold in extremely limited numbers to suitably wealthy or significant buyers. At the more mainstream end, Hongqi’s newer EH7 and EHS7 models have been positioned explicitly to undercut Tesla and XPeng on price while offering comparable specification.
Hongqi has repeatedly signalled interest in a UK launch, with British motoring press reporting the brand had earmarked 2026 as a target date as far back as 2024. As things stand, that launch has not materialised, and there has been little public update on UK plans since. Hongqi has, however, expanded into a number of other international markets, including parts of the Middle East, giving some indication of pricing and specification for cars that may eventually reach Britain.
Until a UK launch is confirmed, the specifications and pricing on this page and its model pages reflect the Chinese market, where Hongqi’s cars are actually sold today, clearly marked as such rather than presented as UK figures.
