Chinese rival to Mercedes S-Class is loads of luxury at fraction of the price

The luxury car space in the Chinese auto market is buzzing with a demand that has been steadily growing. This has led to almost every luxury car maker - local and global - to look at China with yearning eyes to inject momentum in their respective sales' graphs. But even as traditional auto giants have indeed managed to find favour, local players aren't relenting and the Hongqi H9 is a prime case in point. The top-of-the-line luxury sedan not only draws inspiration from rivals but aims to challenge these by offering drive capabilities and features to match but at a cost that is significantly lesser.

Priced bwteen 309,800 yuan and 539,800 yuan (approximately ₹35 lakh and ₹61 lakh), the H9 undercuts its rivals like the Mercedes S-Class by quite a bit. But in terms of styling and features, there's much on offer.

The cabin of Hongqi H9 gets a full LCD instrument cluster, a large main display unit, a 12-inch head-up display and a video-streaming rearview mirror. The sedan's seat layout is for four and it gets special additions within the body to reduce exterior noise from filtering into the cabin.

The Hongqi H9 seeks to have an imposing visual character from all sides.

A special fragrance system, a refrigerator and massage seats are also available depending on the variant selected.

Under the hood, there are two engine options available. One is a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that puts out 241 bhp and has 380 Nm of torque. For even more power, there's a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engine that puts out 269 bhp and has 400 Nm of torque. Both engines come mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The Hongqi H9 supports L2.5 driver assistance and boasts of surround-view monitor system, among several other safety and security highlights.

In the past, some of its younger siblings have faced quality-control issues but initial reports suggest that the Hongqi H9 has eliminated all of these concerns and promises to be just as refined as anything that Mercedes, BMW and Audi may have in the same rivaling segment.