China’s Auto Industry Takes on its Biggest Challenge Yet – Building the Silk-FAW S9 Hypercar
We typically do not associate the word hypercar with China. It is a word almost exclusively reserved for the Italians. For many decades and even now, China has always been associated with cheap consumer goods. But with China’s automotive boom, more Chinese manufacturers are targeting the top one percent of the market share, and one of these is the Silk-FAW joint venture that has announced it is building China’s first ever street legal hypercar, the S9.
China is Building its Hypercar in Italy
The S9 is a joint venture between the start-up Silk EV and the Chinese automotive manufacturer FAW (First Automotive Works). Silk is an international automotive design and engineering company and FAW is China’s largest and the oldest automotive manufacturer (and parent company of Hongqi). FAW currently has joint ventures with Audi and Volkswagen Group, Toyota, GM and many more. The joint venture with Silk plans to build a full range of models called the S series under the Hongqi brand in Italy and China.
China’s S9 hypercar is expected to be built in the “Motor Valley” of Italy – Reggio Emilia. The joint venture’s new factory is only 27 miles away from Ferrari and an hour by car from Lamborghini.
Why would they build it here? Well besides the obvious, that Italy is known for making exotic supercars and hypercars, the most important factor was that Italy was the first G7 nation to endorse China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The S9 is special and here is why
The S9 isn’t the first super/hypercar to come out of China. The NIO EP9 and the Qiantu K50 have already made little waves in the automotive world. However, the NIO EP9 isn’t street legal and the Qiantu K50 has already gone bankrupt.
Also both are full electric. The S9 is going to be a plug-in hybrid and is expected to use a newly developed 4-liter V-8 with electric turbocharged gasoline engine capable of 880 hp. It is also expected to have two electric motors to further boost its combined output up to 1,400 hp.
What makes the S9 special is China is willing to compete in the internal combustion engine segment, which has always been dominated by other countries. Even with all the joint ventures from other western and Japanese brands, making large displacement engines was never China’s strong suit. In comparison to EVs, internal combustion engines are more complex. A 2-liter 4-cylinder engine has on average around 3000 parts in comparison to EVs electric motor with only has a rotor and a stator, so for China to develop this 4-liter V8 engine is showing its engineering capability.
Where is the market for China – made hypercars?
China has long dominated the cheap and affordable consumer goods market, and countries like Germany, Italy and Japan have long been regarded as the producers of high-end, high-quality products.
So, will anyone pay $1.8 million for a car from China? The answer is yes. It will probably be sold out before it leaves the factory. There probably will be several groups of buyers and it is highly likely most of them will be Chinese.
Red Rich
The first group could be the “red” rich (descendants of members from the Red Army). These are the people who have become rich by remaining closely associated with the Chinese government. Some may also be the heads of state-owned enterprises. Hongqi has always been regarded as the symbol of the Chinese communist party. Owning the S9 can be interpreted as being the ultimate supporter of the CCP.
Second Generation Rich
The second group might be the second generation rich, most often their parents are the ones that are paying the bill. Buying a Ferrari or Lambo might project a rich brat image. Buying a Hongqi Hypercar doesn’t change the brat image but at least you’re a patriotic brat.
Investors
The third group will be investors, those who buy ultra-rare Ferraris and other exotic cars. These buyers buy cars purely for investment purposes. If you don’t know too much about the automotive market, typically cars are depreciating items, the moment you drive off the dealer lot you lose 20% of its original value. But that only applies to mass production vehicles, simply because anyone can buy it.
It’s a different world when you are purchasing a Ferrari or other exotic cars that have extremely low production numbers, typically less than 500 vehicles per model, and brands like Bugatti, which only produce around 70 cars per year. And all of them will be sold long before production.
Silk-FAW is also planning on only make 70 copies of the S9. With a market as enormous as China, I truly don’t see any reason why the S9 will have “leftovers”.
And there will also be buyers from other parts of the world to buy the S9 simply based on personal interest and likings. However, it might take some time to build the brand image on the world stage.
The S9 isn’t a car, but an image of a nation
Since its early days, the Hongqi brand has been regarded as a symbol of China’s ruling Communist Party and has always been the brand of choice for Chinese leaders throughout history. For FAW to announce a hypercar under the Hongqi name indicates China’s reputation is on the line, there is no room for failure.
Read More:
https://www.autonews.com/cars-concepts/us-chinese-challenger-ferrari-picks-italy-debut-18m-hypercar
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1132544_silk-faw-hires-its-second-ferrari-veteran
