Hongqi L-Series Becomes China's Most Expensive Car Ever

Hongqi L5 is a Chinese take on Western luxury cars of the likes of Rolls Royce and Bentley. Produced by the state-owned China FAW Group Corp, the car made its debut last year as the L7 and was meant to be a locally-made, ultra-luxurious ride for high ranking Chinese government officials.

The Hongqi, which means "Red Flag", was put on display at the Beijing Auto Show 2014 as it has now been made available for the public. The very first purchase was made by a man named Wang Zhonghua, the owner of a furniture store chain from Nanjing.

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Zhonghua paid an unprecedented $803,000/€580,000 for the Hongqi L5, which is at least five million yuan, making this the most expensive Chinese car ever.

Naturally, the car will be tailor-made to the buyer's specifications, but the car itself has a design that's from a time gone by. But likeness to design is relative, so we won't touch that matter.

While details about the first Hongqi L5 sold to the public is not known, the basic specifications of the car are as follows. Power comes from an all-aluminium 6.0-litre V12 engine that's mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission delivering power to all four wheels. The engine delivers 402 horsepower and 550 Nm of torque and can take the car to a limited top speed of 200 km/h.

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