Hongqi, a premium car manufacturer and part of FAW Group, has officially started sales of its new crossover SUV named LS7. The model will be available with three seat rows and also as a luxury four-seater.
The whale of an SUV comes in at nearly 5.7 meters (18.7 feet) long and just under 2.1 meters (6.9 ft.) wide with more than 3.3 meters (10.83 ft.) between the axles and 246 mm (9.6 inches) of ground clearance. With the liquids in, it tips the scales at 3.1 metric tons, or 6,835 lbs.
The car sports a body-on-frame design and has dual-wishbone front suspension with a solid axle in the back. Air-ride cushions and 22-inch wheels are included in the base spec.
Leather and wood dominate the inner space. The four-seat version puts a console between the rear seats with power adjustments, HVAC buttons and infotainment controls on it. Passengers get personal 12.8-inch displays. The three-row version ditches the displays, but has two separate seats in the second row instead of a solid bench.
Powering the luxobarge is a four-liter turbocharged V8 working in tandem with a ZF 8AT for 360 PS (355 hp / 265 kW) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of torque. A coupling on the front axle grants on-demand AWD functionality. Launching the SUV from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) takes somewhat sluggish 9.1 seconds, and the odometer maxes out at just 200 km/h (124 mph). Hongqi promises to release a hybrid powertrain for the LS7 later on.