Hongqi’s New H5 Compact Executive Sedan Looks Like A Baby H9

The first images of the all-new Hongqi H5 have hit the web ahead of the car’s Beijing Auto Show unveiling next month.

The new sedan looks completely different than its predecessor and shares much of its design with the larger Hongqi H9, marketed as the company’s rival to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6, and BMW 5-Series.

Hongqi’s designers started their work by overhauling the front of the H5, crafting a new grille with chrome-finished vertical strakes and the company’s recognizable ‘red flag’ motif running down the hood. Elsewhere, the H5 has been fitted with a split headlight design. Found where you would normally expect to see the main headlamps are instead units housing the complex LED daytime running lights. Positioned lower down on the bumper are the main headlamps and high beams.

Read Also: Is China’s New Hongqi H9 Luxury Sedan A Proper Mercedes-Benz Rival?

Continuing the radical overhaul of the luxury sedan is an all-new design at the rear that’s also very similar to that of the larger H9. For example, there are sleek LED lights connected by a pronounced light bar.

A leaked image of the car’s interior has also hit the web, revealing radical changes over the previous-generation H5. Taking pride of place in the cabin is a portrait-oriented infotainment screen that’s been neatly incorporated into the dashboard. Hongqi has also equipped the sedan with a digital gauge cluster and a three-spoke steering wheel that appears to utilize touch-sensitive buttons. Other interior parts visible in this photo include a relatively small shifter, red leather across the seats, center console, door panels, and dashboard, as well as metal air vents.

Cars News China reports that the H5 will initially launch with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine but a 1.5-liter turbocharged plug-in hybrid powertrain is also added to the line-up. Expect to hear more about the H5 after its Beijing debut.