China’s luxury car brand continues to fight for market share
Government invested US$1.6 billion over four years in ‘Red Flag’ brand, but flagship model sold only 5,000 units last year
A massive investment in research and design has apparently failed to reverse the fortunes of Chinese luxury car brand, Hongqi, local media reported.
Between 2011 and 2015 the government ploughed 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) into the state-owned company, a unit of FAW Group, which is known as Red Flag in English, People.com.cn reported on Monday.
Last year, the company sold 5,000 of its flagship H7 model, while in the first quarter of this year it sold 1,000 units, the report said.
It did not provide comparative figures, but said BMW sold 5,000 cars every three days in China, and Audi sold that many every two days.
The Hongqi H7 Sedan l was launched in 2013, and about 3,000 units sold in the first year. Most were bought by government departments for official functions.