Review of China’s Newest EV Brand HiPhi – “I Would Buy This Car Just for The Doors”
A couple years ago when I still worked in the classic car world, a designer once told me: “the hardest part of a vehicle to design is the door.” At the time I did not understand why and thought it was a strange thing for such a sophisticated designer to say. But as soon as I saw a demo of the HiPhi X, I immediately understood what he meant. Doors can make or break your experience with a vehicle. And I would seriously buy the HiPhi X just for the doors.
I’ll get back to the doors in a moment. First – what is HiPhi?
An Overview of HiPhi and its Unique Founder
HiPhi, Chinese name 高合, was founded in 2017 and is a sub-brand of smart transportation technology company Human Horizon. In August 2020, the company debuted the HiPhi X, a 6-seater all-electric battery-powered full-size luxury CUV, at the Beijing Auto Show.
When I look at an automotive company, I always research the founder’s background. The majority of the time I find a businessman with fancy degrees at the throne. But that’s not the case for HiPhi. Finally an auto brand run by a scientist (and with a long career in the auto industry!)
The company’s founder Ding Lei graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear physics and a Master of Science degree in solid-state physics. In 1988, Ding Lei joined Shanghai Volkswagen group, a joint venture of Volkswagen Group and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). In 2005, Ding became the CEO and President of Shanghai General Motors – a joint venture of SAIC and General Motors.
In 2017, Ding founded Human Horizon. Utilizing his experience in the car industry, he and his team started to develop smart electric cars under the HiPhi brand as well a develop autonomous driving technology.
The Specs of the HiPhi X
According to the official website, the HiPhi X has all-wheel drive with combined output of 536 hp and roughly 6903 ft.lb (9360 N.m) of torque. It goes 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and has a range up to 400 miles (630 km) with a 96.0 kWh battery pack.
The torque figure seems a bit doubtful – a Tesla P100D with Ludacris mode can only produce 920 ft.lb of torque. But that is what the official website says so I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The HiPhi X is equipped with four-wheel steering and a customizable matrix lighting system in the front and back light which can display information and pictures. The vehicle also features a projector that is embedded into the front headlight, so technically you could park your car in front of a wall and create your own drive-in theater.
Now it’s Time to Discuss the Doors
So back to the awesome doors that I mentioned in the beginning. HiPhi really learned what not to do from the Tesla Model X. Unlike the Tesla Model X with its gullwing door the HiPhi X features split rear doors. The bottom is suicide doors paired with overhead gull-wing doors on the top section of the doors. This allows the rear doors to open separately.
Couple of reasons this is a better design.
First of all, safety. In the case that the vehicle has flipped over, the lower portion of the door can still function like a normal car door.
Second, convenience. You don’t have to open the gull wing doors every time you want to get in and out. That has been a big complaint of the Tesla Model X, that sometimes you just don’t want full gull wing doors.
Yet having the option of the gull wings doors is very helpful, it makes it easier to get kids strapped into the car and it also makes it very easy to get into the 3rd row of the 6-seater version. You can actually step into the third row completely standing up, instead of having to pretzel your way in there.
Another way that HiPhi improved on the Model X design is that, if it is raining, the Model X gull wing doors dump water right into your car seats. Very unpractical. The HiPhi X gull wing doors are designed with a channel to allow rain to run off the roof and down the sides of the car.
The front and rear bottom doors are also special because all the doors can open up to an 89 degrees angle, which is much wider than many vehicles, also making it considerably easier to get in and out.
And then on top of that, all the doors are motor assisted with safety sonar sensors, so they open when you walk up to them. Opening and closing your own doors is so yesterday.
Completely Automated Production Line
Apart from the car itself, the production line is also state of the art. The assembly and painting process is completely dominated by KUKA and DURR robots, and at the end of the assembly line the vehicle will turn on and autonomously drive itself to the loading area waiting to be tested and shipped.
Source: HiPhi Official app
But Are Consumers Willing to Buy a Luxury CUV From a Chinese Brand?
The HiPhi X isn’t cheap. The 6-seater is RMB ￥680,000 ($103,000) and the 4-seater limousine model are RMB ￥800,000 ($121,000).
With a price point that high, you may be thinking that Chinese consumers would prefer to buy a famous international brand with that money. And while that may be true for some consumers, times are changing. Chinese companies are making increasingly high-quality vehicles with innovative designs that are packed with technology, and because of this, Chinese consumer sentiment towards homegrown brands is changing.
In fact, in January at the 2021 International New Energy Vehicle & Connected Mobility Show in Hainan, HiPhi announced that the first 3,000 units of the Founder Edition would soon be sold out.
According to a press release from Human Horizons, founder Ding Lei said “With nearly 3,000 units sold and reservations for test drives at a further 32,000, 2021 is going to be an incredible year here at Human Horizons.”
As a bonus, the first 3,000 owners of the HiPhi X Founder Edition will be granted six lifelong services. These services include free vehicle warranty, free electric component maintenance, free general maintenance, free charging, free 5G data, and free roadside assistance.
With mass production and rollout to begin in the first half of 2021, Human Horizons is opening HiPhi Hubs across the country. The first batch of 10 Hubs are set to open in January across Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, with plans to open more than 50 by the end of June.
