FAW to relaunch own-brand Hongqi in October

Shanghai, September 3 (Gasgoo.com) FAW's Hongqi will be relaunched at the beginning of October after production is suspended for months, reported China Business New Wednesday, citing a source from FAW Car.

The move comes after FAW Car Co integrated the sales networks of Hongqi and Besturn in order to save costs. But according to the unnamed source, the Hongqi to go on sale next month is still a 2007 model as production of renewed ones is unlikely to be resumed before the end of this year.

Sales of Hongqi cars continue to dwindle in the first half of this year, with only 788 units sold, all from inventories. Industry analysts said that the integration of Hongqi's sales into the Besturn network marks FAW's lack of a mature plan to develop the hongqi brand.

In 2006, FAW's premium Hongqi division had built an independent sales network aiming at the high-end market. But the market didn't think so: two years later only a few hundred Hongqi cars were sold each month and now this renowned brand has to rely on the Besturn network.