New luxury BEV Maextro S800 goes on the market in China
JAC and Huawei presented their luxury vehicle back in January. The Maextro S800 is a whopping 5.48 metres long and has a wheelbase of 3.37 metres – for plenty of space in the rear seats, as the S800 is a classic chauffeur-driven sedan. And as befits the luxury segment of Rolls-Royce, Maybach and the like, the model is also available in a two-tone paint finish.
The S800 will also be cheaper than expected, as prices of between 1 and 1.5 million yuan were speculated at the launch. In fact, the luxury model from the Aoije joint venture between Huawei and JAC has now gone on sale at prices starting at 708,000 yuan, which is equivalent to around 86,600 euros. At this price, the BEV version is available with five seats, with a classic rear bench seat in the back. The four-seater with two more comfortable seats in the rear starts at 818,000 yuan, or around 100,000 euros.
Contrary to earlier statements, the battery-electric version has only two electric motors instead of three. The drive unit at the front delivers 160 kW, the one on the rear axle 230 kW, resulting in 390 kW system power. This is enough to accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds. The 97 kWh NMC battery should enable ranges of 702 or 650 kilometres according to the Chinese CLTC cycle. The charging capacity is even more impressive: the S800 should only need twelve minutes for the standard process from ten to 80 per cent.
The variant with range extender (EREV) is positioned above the BEV model in terms of price. In the cheaper five-seater version, the 1.5-litre petrol generator is combined with two electric motors for propulsion (4.9 s for 0 to 100 kph); like the BEV five-seater, this version costs from 708,000 yuan. In the case of the EREV, the four-seater costs at least 1,018,000 yuan (around 125,000 euros), but also offers the electric drive with three motors and 635 kW system output.
Both EREV variants utilise a 65 kWh battery, which is also unusually large for range extender models in China. According to CLTC, the Maextro S800 EREV should be able to drive around 200 kilometres purely electrically, the battery can then be charged from ten to 80 per cent in 10.5 minutes, or the petrol engine can take over the power supply. The combined range is 1,333 kilometres. However, the Maextro S800 is not only intended to score points with its drive technology, but above all with the luxury and safety of the interior. For example, the sedan is equipped with the ADS4 intelligent driving system from Huawei.
While Chinese manufacturers are already increasingly competing with Western brands in China in the premium segment, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Maybach have so far dominated the luxury segment. However, this is also currently changing, as in addition to Maextro, BYD is also active with the luxury brand Yangwang (the Yangwang U7 electric sedan starts at 628,000 yuan) and Nio with the ET9 (from 788,000 yuan).
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