The local boss of electric luxury brand HQ says the company will launch in Australia late this year as a proudly Chinese rival to established German and British brands, with three models confirmed for local showrooms.

Australia will be the first country where Hongqi vehicles are sold under the abbreviated HQ brand. Its first model will be the three-row E-HS9 electric SUV.

HQ intends to sell only battery-electric vehicles in Australia, rather than the hybrid technology offered in its Chinese-market models, which include a V8 hybrid flagship sedan.

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Hongqi is known for its ultra-luxury limousines, having produced presidential vehicles for the Chinese government for almost seven decades.

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Plans include 15 dealerships across Australia, five of which will be owned and operated by the brand. These flagship dealerships will be located in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

HQ is part of FAW Group (formerly First Auto Works), China’s oldest car manufacturer, which reported producing 3.3 million vehicles last year.

Speaking to CarExpert at the Everything Electric show in Sydney, HQ Australia CEO and managing director Jim Wu said he expects the first deliveries to Australian customers in mid-January 2027.

“The brand position we hope may be the same, similar to Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi,” Mr Wu said.

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“We will take market share from Range Rover, that kind of level. From Mercedes-Benz, we will also take some market share, but maybe not so much.”

Mr Wu was a co-founder of Leapmotor, in which Stellantis – the parent company of brands including Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and Peugeot – is a stakeholder.

Leapmotor and Hongqi have a technology-sharing arrangement to develop new models.

This will see the EHS4 SUV, one of the three models confirmed for Australian showrooms, use the LEAP 3.5 modular architecture that also underpins the Leapmotor B10 currently sold here.

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HQ hopes to reach its initial sales target of 1000 vehicles a month around June next year, once all three models confirmed for Australia have arrived in local showrooms.

Its longer-term goal is 30,000 annual sales. For reference, Lexus sold 14,561 vehicles in Australia in 2025, Audi sold 16,014 and Mercedes-Benz Cars sold 22,850.

BMW Australia was the top-selling luxury brand, with 26,842 sales; Mercedes-Benz edged ahead only if its Vans division was counted, with a total of 27,581 deliveries.

“FAW, the parent company, fully owns the brand and established its first joint venture [in China] with Volkswagen and Audi about 30 years ago,” Mr Wu explained.

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“So it learned the know-how from Volkswagen and Audi first, and then the next generation created another joint venture with Toyota. It also learned more luxury know-how from that.”

Mr Wu said the HQ brand will focus on two areas of luxury: “smart” and “tech”. In terms of smart features, the brand boss said user-friendliness would be a core attribute of the models sold here.

The other area, technology, includes moving into fields such as autonomous driving, which he said will require the Australian government to work with the automotive industry.

“The new Hongqi HQ is built on that kind of technology,” Mr Wu said.

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“The old Chinese carmakers have also changed, as they’ve recruited very smart talent from Europe,” the HQ chief added.

On the design front, this includes Hongqi design chief Giles Taylor, a Briton who previously worked at Rolls-Royce, where he was responsible for the styling of the Cullinan and latest Phantom.

However, HQ models won't shy away from their Chinese heritage, even when penned by a British designer, Mr Wu said.

“We hope to build [cars] that show they are Chinese. I think Chinese cars are now respected for their advanced technology.”

The first HQ model, the E-HS9 large electric SUV, is expected to be unveiled in Melbourne in October, before the initial dealerships open and customer deliveries begin in mid-January 2027.

MORE: China's oldest auto brand locks in range of electric luxury SUVs for Australia, sedan set to follow