- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru Fr He Ar
HiPhi. Strong start
The HiPhi electric car brand is one of the newest Chinese automakers, created in July 2019. Without wasting any time, the Shanghai-based startup Human Horizons has already launched two models by 2022. What a strong start! The first vehicle of the brand, the HiPhi X, presented on July 31, 2019, is an electric full-size SUV with a driving range of 550 km. The second is the HiPhi Z, a sports estate that was released in November 2021. The new HiPhi brand specializes in the design and development of electric vehicles, and has ambitious and far-reaching plans. Human Horizons aspires to create a full-fledged urban infrastructure for the most efficient use of the transport of the future, which they produce. Judging by the statements of the company’s superior managers, it is clearly ready for the most serious competition with foreign luxury brands, but, most surprisingly, in China, HiPhi is already ahead of Tesla…
‘…we are breaking the monopoly held by foreign luxury brands for fifty years and redefining the standard for luxury electric vehicles in this country. It’s the start of an exciting new era for Chinese automakers’
Find out more about Tesla’s “hard times” here…
Very brief history
The history of the ambitious brand is very brief. HiPhi was founded on July 31, 2019 by Human Horizons with their first HiPhi 1 concept car. In April 2020, the first HiPhi branded store opened in Lujiazui, Shanghai, and in July 2022, the company had already the entire network of 33 car dealerships in 27 cities across the country. By the end of this year, the company aims to have 120 branded outlets. Human Horizons has its own development center and factory. In the summer of 2022, the company attracted nearly 800 million dollars from the Shanghai branch of Bank of Communications.
The first HiPhi X model has been officially available in the Chinese market since October 2020, and the first batch of mass-produced vehicles was delivered in May 2021. According to the monthly vehicle sales report published by the Chinese Automotive Research and Technology Center, the HiPhi X became the best-selling premium electric vehicle in China in September 2021, replacing the electric sedan Porsche Taycan. Very impressive… Why did the Chinese like it so much?
With 641 HiPhi X units sold in September 2021, the Porsche Taycan came second with 585 units, while the Hongqi E-HS9 came third with 367 units sold. Tesla models were ranked last: the liftback Model S and the SUV Model X found 7 and 6 buyers, respectively, in China.
HiPhi X
The HiPhi X is a full-size electric SUV, the production version of the HiPhi 1 concept car. It is equipped with two electric motors with a total capacity of 598 hp and 820 Nm. The driving range is 550 km. It looks amazing: the rear doors are truly unique, opening against movement, and the upper part of the roof, imitating the wings of a seagull, can rise. In addition, the equipment is innovative: a 50-inch screen spreading over nine screens (!!!), an L3 automatic driving system, 360-degree cameras, PML smart headlights with ISD lighting (it uses thousands of LEDs to project inscriptions), a facial recognition system, which opens the doors automatically when a smart car sees that you approach.
31 sensors assist the autopilot, including a lidar, 13 cameras, 5mm radars and 12 ultrasonic radars. The maximum detection distance of an object straight ahead exceeds 200 meters. One of the most sophisticated automotive software technologies in the world enables the HiPhi Pilot system to control six important vehicle driving systems: vision, calculation, braking, power, steering and traction battery. In addition, it guarantees excellent reliability. The model completed a series of winter tests at temperatures below -35 degrees Celsius and covered more than 600,000 test kilometers.
In January 2022, 4,200 HiPhi X vehicles were sold: when the model was created, Human Horizons made big plans for its new model, which succeeded: the new vehicle became more popular than Tesla, despite the fact that the initial price of the electric vehicle is 570,000 yuan (over 84,000 dollars).
HiPhi Z
The HiPhi Z is a sports estate, the brand’s second flagship vehicle, first introduced in November 2021. The production version was supposed to debut at the 2022 Beijing Motor Show, which was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Stylistically, the Z is close to the X, but it has more broken straight lines and sharp edges, and the roof is “floating”, visually separated from the A-pillars. The doors, like those of the SUV, have no of window frames and open in different directions. Strips of LEDs running along the doors inform others of their opening and the mode of operation of the electric powertrain. The rear spoiler is deployed by force or automatically at a speed of 80 km/h.
The vehicle comes with a large multimedia screen in the center of the front panel: it can have horizontal and vertical orientations with different angles. But in terms of the total number of screens, the HiPhi Z is inferior to the SUV: there are no information screens either in front of the ‘navigator’ or in front of the driver, only in the corners of the panel there are rear view camera monitors. Most likely, the digital dashboard will appear as standard, as well as traditional rear-view mirrors, the presence of which is still required by Chinese law. It is planned that the car will receive a third-level autopilot with the ability to upgrade to the fourth level. To facilitate the electronic control of the car, the front wheels and the rear wheels are controlled.
