As Belta reports, with reference to the country’s Minister of Industry Alexander Ogorodnikov, assembly will begin in the near future: the first batch of 36 vehicle kits has already arrived at the territory of the Unison plant. This year, with just over three months left until the end, the Belarusian enterprise plans to assemble about one thousand Hongqi cars.
As previously reported, they want to assemble the HS5 mid-size crossover at the Unison plant’s facilities. At the beginning of the year, Belarusian specialists visited the Hongqi production facility in Urumqi, China. The official launch of the line, where the machines will be assembled from pre-commissioning kits, should take place on September 21. At first it will be a large-scale assembly, but further localization is planned – up to the full cycle.
By the end of the year, Unison will assemble about a thousand cars. And this is not the limit, judging by Ogorodnikov’s words: he stated that “next year seems very promising.”
Hongqi is a newcomer to the Belarusian market: the brand’s first car showroom recently opened in Minsk. Four models with the maximum configuration are now available – the E-HS9 electric crossover, the H9 and H5 sedans, and the HS5 luxury SUV. Later they will be joined by the E-QM5 electric sedan, and next year it is planned to bring HS3 and H7.
Premium cars officially began to be shipped to Russia in May 2023. Sales began with the same four models. The price starts at 4.49 million rubles for the H5 sedan. By the end of the year, the FAW concern, which owns Hongqi, wants to open 12 car dealerships in the country – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don and Sochi.
The Belarusian assembly is expected to reduce the cost of the Chinese premium, which has already attracted interest from Yandex Taxi and state-owned companies. Perhaps some of the thousands of collected Hongqi will go to Russia, where they have already appeared in the parks of the Federal Security Service and the FSB.
Standby mode: Chinese news for Russia
