China's Hongqi sedan to have top-class sports models

CHANGCHUN - Companies and local governments in China, the United States and Italy on Tuesday agreed to launch a joint venture for developing sports models of China's iconic sedan brand Hongqi.

The Hongqi S-series project, jointly launched by China's FAW Group and US company Silk EV LLC, will have an investment of 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion), aiming to build the series into a world-class luxury sports vehicle brand, according to an agreement signed via video link.

The S series will include the S9 and S5 models. The S9 will be designed by FAW Group's China-Europe R&D team and be manufactured in Changchun, where the group is based, and the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy.

Noting that Italy has a well-rounded supply-chain system for top-class sports cars, Xu Liuping, chairman of FAW Group, said he believes the Hongqi S-series project is set to be a new model of automotive industry cooperation between China and Europe.

FAW Group said Tuesday that it plans to sell 400,000 units of Hongqi sedans this year, up 100 percent year-on-year.