If you were to ask someone who doesn’t live in China whether they’d prefer to own an EV from Germany or one from China, we suspect most would answer Germany. However, Chinese car manufacturers have upped their game in recent years and are now building many premium EVs to rival those from other markets. But can they also compete with the Germans in the performance stakes?
To find out, CarWow recently gathered two of the newest Chinese EVs to launch in Europe, the HiPhi Z and the HiPhi X. It then pitted them against the Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo and a BMW iX M60 to see which accelerates the quickest and which can brake the hardest.
Read: China’s HiPhi Reveals Euro Prices for X And Z, Undercuts Tesla
In the first race, all four launch off the line very well but it is the Porsche and BMW that immediately begin to pull ahead. This is despite the fact that the Taycan GTS delivers 590 hp and 626 lb-ft (850 Nm) compared to the 672 hp and 605 lb-ft (820 Nm) of the HiPhi Z and despite the BMW iX M60 also being the heaviest of the four, tipping the scales at a hefty 2,584 kg (5,696 lbs). Key to the performance credentials of the Taycan is that it weighs the least of the four cars (2,310 kg) while helping the BMW is the fact that it delivers 619 hp and a mammoth 811 lb-ft (1,100 Nm) of torque.
The second race is also very competitive but it is the Porsche and BMW that storm ahead and cross the finish line ahead of their Chinese rivals. A rolling race is also held and while the HiPhi Z initially pulled into a sizeable lead, it hit an electronic speed limiter and was quickly overtaken by the Porsche and BMW.