China Concept Cars: The Story Of The Hongqi C601 Sedan

Today in China Concept Cars: the Hongqi C601 sedan. In the early 2000s, Hongqi was looking for a new mid-size luxury sedan. To get there, they developed four concept cars under the C601 code name. These were:

1. The first C601 with a classic Hongqi grille.
2. The same car with a modern Hongqi grille.
3. The same car with the classic grille and modernized lights.
4. An all-new C601 concept.

The first Hongqi C601 concept.

The design of the first C601 concept car was drawn by designer Cheng Zheng (程正). The car on the design drawing has a classic American-style shape, with a long hood and trunk. The rear wheels are partially covered, and it has a Hongqi badge on the C-pillar.

The first C601 arrived in the early 2000s. Hongqi used the platform of the C5 Audi A6. They stripped it down completely. All the panels were new. The C5 Audi A6 was made in China by FAW-Volkswagen. The Chinese version had a longer wheelbase than the German version, but at the time it wasn’t called A6L yet.

The C601 in the Hongqi design studio.

With designer Cheng Zheng. Note the gold-colored Hongqi ‘handwriting’ and the four vertical bars on each side of the license plate area. There were similar bars on the earlier Lincoln-based Hongqi limousines.

The design of the C601 was a mix of American and Asian elements. The wide C-pillar and the long trunk are typical American, but the design of the front is somewhat similar to the Kia Opirus.

The badge on the C-pillar was quite pretty. It showed the original gate of the FAW factory in Changchun, with a FAW logo in the center, below a large red flag. This logo has never been used on a production car.

It is unknown if the first C601 had an engine under the hood. But the concept did have a chromed twin tailpipe under the bumper, on the left side.

The first, second, and third C601 concept cars were never publicly displayed. The photos we have show the concept cars in various areas of the FAW factory complex. The first concept remained there for a very long time:

Abandoned

In the 2000s, Chinese car companies didn’t care about their old concept cars. Most were scrapped or simply dumped outdoors. The first C601 was seen at a yard near the factory. It was in pretty bad shape.

But the good thing was: the photographer took a pic of the interior. It is a completely unchanged Audi A6 dashboard, except for the FAW ‘1’ logo on the steering wheel.

The second Hongqi C601 concept.

Hongqi didn’t decide to produce the C601 just yet. But development continued. The design team came up with a second C601 concept car, with an upgraded front. This design drawing shows the car with a new grille, a new bumper, and new lights.

The grille design of the second C601 concept was inspired by the Hongqi HQD state limousine concept, which was unveiled in 2005. The grille design of the HQD was inspired by a classic Chinese hand fan.

The concept car was a bit different compared to the drawing. The Hongqi hood ornament was deleted in favor of a logo on the grille. The shape of the middle section of the bumper differs too. Otherwise, it looks very similar to the first concept. Even the alloy wheels are the same.

The third Hongqi C601 concept.

Again, there was no decision about production but development continued once again. Hongqi created a classic-modern mix. They went back to the original grille design, and they added new modern headlights, new fog lights, a new bumper again, and light units in the bumper were deleted. Hongqi added chrome strips over the bumper, the doors, and the rear fender. Finally, the fitted larger alloy wheels with a new alloy design. The changes worked well. The C601 looked up-to-date, more high-end, and sportier.

The wheels seem photoshopped in this photo. The rest of the car is the real thing. It still had the badge on the C-pillar and the rear-light design appears to be unchanged. Sadly, after three C601 concepts, Hongqi was still undecided about production. For a while, we didn’t hear about the C601.

The fourth Hongqi C601 concept.

That changed in April 2006, when Hongqi released an image of an all-new C601 concept, with a completely different design. Gone was the classic sedan shape, replaced by much wilder lines.

This Hongqi C601 debuted at the 2006 Beijing Auto Show. The design was inspired by the Chinese sturgeon. It was also a rather radical design, with a heavily chromed grille with 12 vertical bars topped by a large horizontal bar. There was a chromed strip that ran from the lower grille over the hood.

This C601 was designed by Mr. Dong Ruifeng, who also designed many cool mini-cars. This gentleman was a designer at Hongqi, but by the time the new C601 was unveiled, he had founded his own design studio called Ruifeng Design (瑞豐設計).

The new C601 was again based on the C5 Audi A6 platform. But this time, much more of the Audi remained. The hard points and basic design are the same. The doors are the same too. The main changes are at the front, around the C-D pillar, and at the rear.

FAW-Volkswagen Audi A6 (C5).

In 2006, Hongqi produced the Toyota-based HQ3. The production of the Audi 100/200-based cars had just ended. Production of the C5 in China ended in 2006 as well. It was replaced by the C6 Audi A6L. FAW wanted to use the C5 platform for the Hongqi C601, just like they had done before with the Audi 100/200. According to Chinese sources, Audi had indeed promised that FAW could use the platform, but in the end, the Germans didn’t agree to share the platform anyway. Hongqi itself was also unsure if the Audi way was the right way. Hongqi had been criticized for taking the easy way out with HQ3, which was all too obvious a Toyota.

The Audi-genes are best seen from the rear. The C-pillar is a bit wider, with a red flag badge on it. There is another chrome strip over the boot lid and onto the bumper.  Hongqi said the C601 was 4886mm long with a wheelbase of 2850mm, which was the same as the long-wheelbase China-made C5 Audi A6.

There is a handwritten Hongqi logo on the boot lid, but no visible handle to open the boot. At the show, Hongqi said the production version would cost somewhere between 250.000 and 350.000 yuan.

The C601 made an impression at the 2006 show, but the looks were not to everybody’s liking. In 2007, FAW began to redesign the appearance of the fourth C601, going for a more traditional Hongqi design. Sadly, we don’t have any photos of this new variant.

And because Audi didn’t deliver on the platform, the C601 project was canceled altogether in 2008. It would take another four years before Hongqi finally launched its new mid-size sedan: the Hongqi H7, which was again based on a Toyota (!).

Sources: QQ, Sohu, Weibo, Autohome, Autohome, ChinaCarForums, Sina, BiliBili, Xcar.