Shanghai (ZXZC)- FAW Group's premium car brand Hongqi announced it sold a total of 118,000 new vehicles during the first five months of 2021, representing a remarkable year-on-year growth of 116%.

Hongqi H9; photo credit: Hongqi

According to Hongqi's Jan.-Apr. cumulative sales, there were around 26,100 vehicles sold in May, a year-over-year leap of 73%.

Hongqi aims to sell 400,000 vehicles throughout 2021, 29.5% of which has been completed in the Jan.-May period. To achieve the annual sales target, the automaker needs to sell around 40,000 vehicles per month on average for the following seven months.

According to the China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), Hongqi ranked sixth among premium auto brands by April insurance registrations. With an insurance volume of 17,437 units, the Chinese local luxury brands outperformed Volvo, Tesla, Porsche, and only followed Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lexus, and Cadillac.

Hongqi has formed a pretty mature product portfolio, which consists of the sedan series including the H5, the H7, and the H9, and the SUV family embracing the HS5, the HS7, the E-HS3, and the E-HS9. The products cover a wide price range from 150,000 yuan ($23,535) to 700,000 yuan ($109,830).

To strengthen the offensive into NEV domain, FAW Group last year started the construction of a new car manufacturing plant in Changchun, which will mainly produce Hongqi-branded new energy vehicles and intelligent-connected vehicles. The plant is scheduled to begin operation in 2022 with a planned capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year.