An anonymous source was quoted by Yi Cai saying that FAW’s flagship luxury models had become the defacto cars for ministers, as a result FAW shares lurched forward 1.9% to 9.14rmb per share on the Shenzhen stock exchange before retreating to 9.02RMB.

Hong Qi’s forthcoming C131 is being called an ‘Audi Killer’ by the Chinese press, although it is likely that this model is either based on an Audi or Toyota platform, Hong Qi cars have used both platforms previously.

Should Hong Qi become the ministerial car of choice once again, sales at Audi are likely to be impacted slightly but Audi have long been proactive in widening their consumer base away from the traditional government fleet, this seems like a storm Audi are able to weather very well.

See our stories on the C131′s development below:

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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HQE Road Tester

How much would you pay for a car? 20,000USD? 50,000USD? 100,000USD? How about 3 million RMB or 476,000 USD? The Chinese premier, Hu Jin Tao, aired the Hong Qi HQE in October 2009 when he viewed the nations troops in Beijing on the 60th anniversary of the founding of modern China. Hu Jin Tao’s ride came in with a fully bullet proof solution, however the civilian one is unlikely to get the same anti-small weapons equipment but will get the same self developed 6.0L V12 engine as the presidential option.

Chinese automotive media are saying the HQE will hit the market in mid 2012 and will be on sale for around 30 million RMB for the one off model, which is considerably cheaper than the equivlant Rolls-Royce or Bentley, both of which are in the 5 to 7 million RMB area.

So if you want to roll big time on a small time budget, the HQE is the car to own.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The C131 comes as the government pushes to get more Chinese branded cars in the government fleet, the order to buy local has come down many times before but the local brands could not bring quality levels up to anything approaching the quality levels that Mandarins were used to, so they quietly ignored it and still bought Audi’s. Now the government is serious, they want more Chinese cars and FAW has rallied to the call by reigniting the Hong Qi brand, the first full size car to come from Hong Qi for at least a few years will be the C131, this car is rumored to be based on the Auid A6 which is going out of production soon, in the above spy picture you can see some Audi design styles hiding behind that chrome grill, but the fact remains that we are not entirely sure – the same as the Chinese media. Perhaps it is an Audi, perhaps it is a modified Toyota Crown, the two companies have been donor cars for Hong Qi’s in the past.

FrankF

Frank entered the automotive industry via his father's instructions. He grew up with cars around him, especially as his father was a major auto restorer, Frank's childhood was spent passing beers, tools and coffee to his father whilst he explained the ins and outs of engines. Frank now works in the Chinese car industry at a specific manufacturer.

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Chinese press are reporting that the C131 will be packing 2.0T, 2.5L and 3.0L V6 engines and are saying that the C131 will be fighting the Audi A6, BMW 5-series and E-Class sedan when launched in 2013, first stage sales goals are expected to be in the 30,000 units per year range which seems a little high to me.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The C131 disappeared from our radar in early 2010 when declared that they were going to make it soon, but of course news stopped however rumors of it costing more than 8 million RMB when it took to the roads were starting to circulate as well. The Hong Qi brand is about to get a slight elevation in terms of brand positioning if the C131 and their new c segment sedan are to hit the markets at the same time. The Hong Qi brand is often seen as China’s true luxury label but the good will towards the brand seems to have been squandered over the years on rebranded Audi’s and Toyota’s that carry the famous red flag logo, hopefully this new generation of product will set the brand right once again.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Interestingly this platform is already shared with Hong Qi for the HQ3 model so its unclear as to what changes they have made to the platform if anything to make it more unique. The spy shots show that the C131 has taken the Sunflower logo from the official car of President Hu Jintao for its steering wheel logo which could indicate that this car will be very upmarket when it launches in early 2012. Power is expected to be from a 2.0T and a 3.0T engine, although from which company will supply these engines is currently unclear, it could be FAW themselves as they have invested a great deal into a self developed engine range over the past 18 months. The rear lights do seem to have been salvaged from a VW Magotan and are unlikely to be in the final model!

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The C131 sedan will launch in early 2012 and will come down the production line on December 30th 2011 according to FAW’s internal plan. FAW have apparently spent 1.7 billion RMB on developing the platform used by the C131, the platform is code named L platform within FAW, and a H platform (for high end cars) M for mid range, and S for small cars. FAW has plans to produce 26 cars by 2013, of which 4 are Hong Qi models

FAW have used various different Audi’s and Toyota models over the years to give the Hong Qi brand the boost it really requires, the Hong Qi brand is strong but by pasting it onto any old model it seems to lose its strength each time, FAW would better dumping the Besturn brand and using the Hong Qi brand for all of its future models.

FrankF

Frank entered the automotive industry via his father's instructions. He grew up with cars around him, especially as his father was a major auto restorer, Frank's childhood was spent passing beers, tools and coffee to his father whilst he explained the ins and outs of engines. Frank now works in the Chinese car industry at a specific manufacturer.

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The C131 has been planned for several years but rumors of arguments between FAW and Audi regarding the last generation of Audi A6 platform have been circulating. Originally Audi gladly donated its Audi 80,100 and 200 platforms to FAW which they did with as they wished, and they did make some interesting looking vehicles in their time on the back of these platforms.

The C131 will be positioned at the same level as the Audi A6 and is expected to hit the market in 2013 with an aim to sell 3000 units per month. Can Hong Qi achieve the fame that it was had? Possibly, but only if its placed at a similar level to Buick. Buick has achieved popularity in China by being an affordable premium brand, Hong Qi won’t find any glory by trying to take on Audi, BMW and Mercedes any time soon.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Hong Qi name was bestowed onto a full size limo once again during last years Review of the Troops by Chairman Hu Jintao who rode in an open top HQE through the streets of Beijing whilst shouting Xin Ku Le to his assembled troops. That HQE set the foundation for Hong Qi to ride high again as a limosuine brand for China’s VIP’s, business leaders and elites. First Automobile Works set about building a civilian version of the HQE for civil use and without the need to be armored to the teeth (although that option is likely available), the HQE is set to launch later this year with a 6.0L V12 engine on tap to provide 292kw of power for the 3600kg beast along Chang’an Avenue.

An eventual launch date has yet to be set, but it is expected to be sometime in 2011.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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FAW first debuted the Hong Qi brand in 1958 when Mao decided that China should its own luxury sedan and should not rely on the Soviet Union’s automotive cast offs for VIP guests and ferrying Central Committee members around Beijing. The first Hong Qi was the CA72, of which many different variants were produced, by the mid 90′s FAW had set up joint ventures with Audi which gave it access to the Audi 100 and 200 platforms from which they made a myriad of different platforms. FAW later built Hong Qi limos based on Lincoln and then built a sedan based on the Toyota Crown.

FAW recently received approval from the Ministry of Industry and Technology to produce 5 new Hong Qi models, which will include an all electric sedan, two hybrid sedans and two limousines. The hybrid and electric models will be able to lower fuel use by an estimated 30% whilst the electric model will achieve 40% reduction in fuel use, the hybrid models are rumored to be a 1.5L engine.

FAW might be readying to kill off the Besturn brand which is not seen as being luxurious in China and also the English name is not very auspicious in a land where superstition still runs fairly deep.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Exterior pictures of the HQE’s exterior have already been leaked to the internet which showed the HQE was heading for a sleeker front end rather than the retro style that we have seen at various car shows, the interior pictures however have only just been leaked to the internet. Does the HQE have what it takes to take on the likes of the Bentley’s and Rolls-Royce’s of the world? Possibly not, but this is likely to be a first generation prototype and there is likely work to begun.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Chinese media is reffering to the HQE as the ‘Chinese Rolls‘, and it certainly deserves its moniker. The above spy pictures show what seems to be a production ready model, and is somewhat different to the concept car that FAW unleashed earlier this year that was a mixture of traditional and modern styles.

Engine power will be derived from FAW’s own self developed 6.0L V12 engine, and is capable of 300Kw of power and 550Nm of torque. Hong Qi are also working on their Audi A6 killing sedan, which be a return to Hong Qi’s original mandate from Mao himself to build a luxury car fit for state leaders.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Plans for a Besturn B90 mid-level sedan are well underway, with the car planning to be launched in 2012 or 2013, whilst a mini car that is rumoured (although unlikely) to be based on the mark2 Jetta will launch in 2011 as well.

It is unknown when FAW’s concept SUV from several years ago will hit the streets, production was initially slated to begin in 2009 but nothing has been heard since, it could be that FAW are pushing the SUV to the side to work on more effective small car programmes that so far have been popular in China.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Chairman Hu’s limo had the registration plate V-02009, whilst Lt. General Fang Fenghui had the registration plate V-01949, which represents the years from which the Communist Party has been in power (1949-2009). Previous National Day parades have also seen Chinese presidents use novelty number plates, in the 1999 National Day Parade President Jiang Zimin had the registration plate A-02156, the 21 representing China’s entry into the 21st century, and the 56 representing the fifty six ethnic minorities in China.

Information on the cars used in this years National Day celebrations is thin on the ground, we have learned that they measure 6.4 meters long, 2.05 meters wide and are 1.72 meters high, and with power being delivered by a V12 engine. The cars were considered state secrets during their development and were all hand made by First Automobile Workers in Changchun.

First Automobile Works was created during China’s first five year plan (1953 – 1957).to create an independent auto mobile industry that would be able to produce trucks and buses to free China from reliance on the then USSR. The Hong Qi brand was set up to provide state limosuines to government departments in the early sixties, previously Chinese dignitaries had to use captured American made Willy’s Jeeps, open air trucks or Soviet made limousines from which to address the military or the people. Since then Hong Qi has become a semi luxury brand for FAW, with FAW’s partnership with Audi, FAW was able to produce the Audi 80, 100 and 200 under the Hong Qi brand and provide a semi luxurious car brand to private buyers and companies across China during the 90′s.

Hong Qi has failed to innovate in the past few years with new independent development of cars, but sesterdays unveiling of the latest generation of state limousines shows Hong Qi still has what it takes to produce a limousine that takes on modern styling, but keeps the traditional styling of past state limousines.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Its unclear what platform the above Hong Qi might be riding on, its more than likely to be its own special platform, and will have FAW’s domestically designed and produced V12 engine in it. The above Hong Qi is also most likely to be a road worthy version of the concept car that we saw a few years ago in 2006.

Brilliance have also attempted to enter the state limo arena with their own cars, but it seems there attempts have fizzled out.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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FAW are planning to put a 6.0L V12 into this bad boy. Production date is still unknown.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The SUV will enter in to the luxury SUV market that has been dominated by the likes of BMW, Range Rover, and Audi for the past few years, although the Japanese are catching up with the launch of their premium brands in China such as Infiniti, Acura, and Lexus, all of which carry SUV’s in their line ups.

According to Hong Qi designers, the SUV will be a fusion of international technology standards, and Chinese design elements. The exact launch date, or the method of power delivery, has yet to be announced, but we’re expecting to see a pre-production model at the Shanghai Auto Show later this year.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Red Flag SUV is expected to be in the same luxury SUV class as the Audi Q7, and have FAW self made V8 or V12 engines under the hood. China Car Times is wondering why the front end of this Hong Qi SUV has so many air vents.

Pictures from Autoblog 

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Hong Qi CA7220a9e12L was quite possibly the most awesome Audi derritive that FAW made for their sub luxury brand, Hong Qi. Boasting a 2.2l V6 engine pumping out 76kw at 5500rpm and 175nm of torque, the CA7220a9e12L was quite a beast! Make sure you click the below image to fully appreciate the class that is the CA7220a9e12L.

To quote one man: ‘I just physically GASPED at the awesomeness of that 100 convertible!‘ China Car Times has never actually seen a CA7220a9e12L out on the road, but we have seen a pick up version of the Audi 100. China Car Times has made it a personal life goal to see (and maybe drive) the beastly sounding CA7220a9e12L before he dies.

What are your thoughts on the CA7220a9e12L? Surely it is the best example of Chinese motor engineering known to man?

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The HongQi SUV is in the same class as the Audi Q7, and the BMW X5.

Update: Obviously the above renderings are Chinese fan art and nothing more.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Hong C601 was launched at the 06 Beijing auto show as a concept car, but as all concept cars are, it was a bit whacky. Hong Qi have taken out the whackyness, and added in some sexiness for good measure, and its come out looking rather fine!

The C601 is built off a platform that is much like the Audi A6, but updated for 08 – First Automobile Works (FAW) is Audis joint venture partner in China, and FAW own Hong Qi, thus technology was shared in exchange for a mass market to sell Audis too (and we’re sure Audi made a lot of this deal) FAW has JV agreements with VW, Mazda, and Toyota, so we’re sure that their future own brands of cars, such as the Besturn will also have some excellent technology under them, but in the meantime, let us look at the Hong Qi C601, the 3 series killer.

Make sure you check out yesterdays posting of the Hong Qi SUV!

We will keep you updated on this motor as and when we get more information!

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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But now it seems, Hong Qi are ready to part with their pre fab motors and start making their own, so they’ve rolled out some SUV and roadster designs.

Click continue reading to see more:

The SUV:

This SUV kind of reminds us of the Escalade, and the Navigator. Are Hong Qi pushing for the high end of the SUV segment? It seems that way.

The roadsters:

Some websites say these roadsters are photoshops, others say they are the real deal. We have no idea, but they do look cool.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Red Flag is currently gearing up to create a new network of service centers that will include both sales, and after sales services across the country. Red Flag was once a major player in the Chinese auto market, but have since lost major ground to foreign and domestic rivals.  Red Flag currently only has sales of around 5,000 units per year, which is really not a lot for China (probably because their cars aren’t so cheap) Red Flag hopes that a luxury SUV will boost its sales, as the Chinese people are certainly going a bit SUV crazy lately.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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Red Flag, or Hong Qi as its called in Chinese, has been supplying limousines to Chinas leaders since the creation of the Peoples Republic, Red Flag also realised that selling half a dozen or so limousines per year isnt all that profitable, so they branched out and started turning ordinary middle class vehicles into top class luxury vehicles. Red Flag used Audi 100s back in the eighties and nineties to make a whole range of Red Flag luxury vehicles, convertibles, stretched limos, and even a funeral car.

The Red Flag HQ3 (pictured above) is based off a Toyota Crowne Majestica and was unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in 2006. The pricing for the HQ3 has been announced as starting at 390,980RMB thats $50,485.88USD quite a penny for a Chinese Boss who wants to drive around in luxury.

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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The Red Flag, or Hong Qi as it’s known in China, car company a part of First Automotive Works (FAW) has finally produced a new car. The original Hong Qi was based on an old Audi 100 design. You see FAW and Audi have had a relationship going back to 1986. FAW used Audi’s 100 design to make their ‘own’ cars for use by the Chinese government and rich Chinese folks. You can still see the old style Hong Qi come Audi 100 on the streets today, but sadly various city governments dropped the Hong Qi like an ex girlfriend in exchange for a newer, racier model from Europe (namely the Audi A6 and VW Passat) The old Hong Qi looked pretty crazy – it had a metal pole going up over the wheel arch, a top of the metal pole was a little red plastic flame that would light up, on the bonnet (thats the cars hood for you American devils) there was a plastic red flag but I’m unsure if that lit up too. Hell, the Chinese government loved it so much, FAW even made a pick up version of it! The Hong Qi didnt really change all that much throughout the Audi relationship, body colored bumpers here and there, and an engine change from Audi to Nissan and then back to Audi in the late 1990′s but nothing until now!

The new Hong Qi, the HQ3, looks absolutly amazing – styled from the Toyota Crown Majesta, but still looking unique enough. Although the HQ3 has come to the dinner party a bit too late, as most of the Chinese elite are busy driving around their A6′s and A8′s now I think in the next 5 years or so, the government will probably want to look for a domesticly produced car, and I think they will look at the HQ3! The HQ3 is by no means a toy – the basic engine is a 3.0L V6 and a larger 4.3 V6 engine , however, the price tag is by no means a toy price, a whopping $75,000USD. The HQ3 went on sale on November 16th, if anyones pockets are deep enough, if you wait a while and your pockets run deeper than $75k, you can get yourself a bullet proof version.

Sources

• Redflag – Audi Connection 

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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