Hongqi is the latest Chinese car manufacturer to set a world record, having secured its place in the Guinness World Records, thanks to the achievement of its new plug-in hybrid SUV. As announced on social media platform X, on the FAW Group account, owner of this luxury brand, a unit of the HS6, equipped with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, traveled 2327.343 km on a single tank of fuel and a full charge of its battery.
Measuring nearly five meters in length, the HS6 is available in three versions, all plug-in hybrids, and equipped with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine producing 148 hp and 225 Nm, which can be combined with a front electric motor (for a combined power of 225 hp), or with an electric motor on each axle (all-wheel drive, with a combined power of 495 hp). The battery can have either 23.9 kWh or 39.5 kWh, in the case of the front-wheel drive variant, as the all-wheel drive variant always uses the larger capacity battery.
The HS6 record holder was equipped with the largest battery and front-wheel drive, a configuration that allows for the declaration of the greatest autonomy in the range, 1600 km in hybrid mode, and 240 km in electric mode, for a total of 1640 km – significantly surpassed in this exercise. The route connected Shangri-La to Guanzhou and would have required the service drivers to apply numerous efficient driving techniques, an approach known as “hypermiling.” Examples of this include driving at low speeds; avoiding the opening of windows, as well as the air turbulence generated by preceding vehicles; and, primarily, driving with anticipation, avoiding unnecessary braking that would then require acceleration to regain speed.
