[roby_dk]

Not possible this is a typo error for sure. Instead of 1.9 it might be 11.9 or so. I must say that the guy who published this article does not know much about automobiles.

[Shreyas Agarwal]

Jeremy Clarkson revirwed this thing and fell in love with it. But, according to him the company doesn't specify a 0-60 mph time because it does not do 60.

Add armour plating for Mr Xi and it makes it a pretty slow car.

Here is a video. Jump to 2:46 for the speed reference.

https://youtu.be/1enyZoZMn4A

[jayguar]

Wow! the article says Mr. Xi's car slowed down to 30-40 kmph to enjoy the scenic ECR. To go along with the top speed and acceleration claim, it should have read, "President Xi Jinping's car went so fast from Grand Chola to Sholinganallur through OMR, that he had to slow down to 30-40 kmph in ECR for the rest of the convoy to catch up."

[vj123]

The person who wrote this article in TOI had zero knowledge about automobiles.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Mystery solved. I have figured out how TOI journo arrived at these numbers. Journo went to Google.com and typed in "Hongqi top speed"

Great catch

Originally Posted by jayguar

Wow! the article says Mr. Xi's car slowed down to 30-40 kmph to enjoy the scenic ECR.

Maybe the journalist was travelling with a speed gun measuring Chinese President's car all the way. Kind of click baits these journalist write for articles like this is hilarious.

[wrongturn]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

This high security car can do 0-100 in 1.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 400 kmph and that's with all the weight of the steel armour plates and more.

TOI chap missed the obvious facts that this car is actually a Transformer, most probably a Decepticon equipped with alien tech warfare and it can shoot lasers from it's eyes and EMP blasts from it's butt.

Indian media is all about bashing everything Indian and loving everything foreign

[alpha1]

Let us apply some simple physics:
Initial speed (v1) = 0 m/s
Final speed (v2) = 28 m/s
Time taken (t) = 1.9 s

Constant acceleration (linear power delivery to wheel from 0 rpm) a = (v2 - v1) / t = 14.73 m/s2

Now weight of the vehicle (m) = 3000 kg
Force needed to produce this (F) = m x a = 44190 Newtons

At the 100 kmph moment, the power produced by the engine (P) = F x v2 = 44190 x 28 W = 1237 kW = 1658 HP (English) = 1683 HP (Metric)

Of course I am assuming that this exercise is happening in the vacuum! With air resistance numbers become even more difficult.

[Vik0728]

Of course I am assuming that this exercise is happening in the vacuum!

After the SmartCat's debunking of this dumb article claim, I think the only thing that was in complete vacuum was the dodo (journalist) who wrote the article !!


OT - This actually makes me wonder how much research really goes into the facts before such articles are published.

[laser2707]

Why don't they check facts? TOI needs to be more responsible while publishing such details. Also, they are touting this vehicle to be some superlative car when it is just an Audi knock-off.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by laser2707

Why don't they check facts? TOI needs to be more responsible while publishing such details.

This is about all the research that most news outlets do these days:

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Mystery solved. I have figured out how TOI journo arrived at these numbers. Journo went to Google.com and typed in "Hongqi top speed". The top search result is this:

Not just ToI (though they are among the worst) almost ALL newspapers, magazines, news websites just do basic googling, purchase/rip-off news from aggregators without verifying, publish 'news' directly from PR agencies, scan instagram and twitter accounts of celebrities and publish as 'news'.

Still, in an age when the majority of people/subscribers won't pay the higher prices for good writing, and anyway believe any random whatsapp forward, it makes good business sense to give the consumers what they (we) want and save on the costs for actual in-depth research and reporting.

[Sai Narayan]

Just stumbled upon the official site as it created curiosity like any other autohead.

Link

[bmw_lover]

I have absolutely no idea how an article about the "Hongqi" becomes part of news. Don't they have something better to write about. Are they running short of celebrities that now they have turned the "Beast" into a celebrity and now are after its Chinese version. We all know that not only presidential limos but everything and anything concerning presidents have tremendous features and specifications be it there cars, houses, planes or bodygaurds. Unless these machines carry some cutting edge technology that should be carried forward to mainstream road cars there is no point in discussing weather it takes 8.2 or 1.9 seconds.

As far as debuting the Hongqi internationally, it seems more like a marketing strategy for the Chinese car industry which has already made bang on the Indian shores. Plus they might be looking at some orders for this Presidential limo from some less previliged nations.

If the limo is really based on an A6's platform, it speaks volumes about the ability of their industry. If they need to reverse engineer platforms even for their Presidential limos, i don't think they themselves have confidence in their technologies. A quick glance on Wikipedia reveals that no. of their models are based on Lincoln Town Car, Toyota Crown Majesta or the Mazda 6 GJ/GL

Fourth generation of Hongqi debuted by 2013, 30,000 units of the latest Hongqi model were initially expected to be produced although a year after launch, less than 5,000 had been sold. Sales are through government procurement; the car is billed as "the official car for minister-level officials". In 2014, the People's Liberation Army purchased at least 1,000 H7 models.

While the name has endured, the vehicles that bear the brand have been surprisingly varied. The erstwhile dignitary's car has become a taxi, a cut-rate businessman's sedan, and during the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China parade, returned to its roots and participated by carrying party leaders. If there is a common thread linking the disparate Hongqi cars besides brand name, it may be the fact that nearly all are based on modern technology. Today, party officials commonly prefer Audis.

In 2008, due to flagging sales, Hongqi showrooms were merged with those of the then recently developed Besturn brand.

Hongqi sold 2,774 cars in 2014 and became the 72nd largest-selling car brand of China.

Armed with these facts i am sure that the Mr. Xi is just trying to hard sell the brand or rather the Chinese car makers. Actually the limo can't do much that is being described in the news. A flagging brand will never have resources to invest in R&D.

[landcruiser123]

We're giving TOI (and Xi) free publicity by taking this thread into the homepage. TOI will get only internet traffic not just because of their ridiculous error, but by each and every post by BHPians and other non-members who are frequent visitors.

Since smartcat has solved the mystery, I request the mods to close the thread and take the thread off the homepage. We as a community shouldn't support click bait journalism.

[Kosfactor]

Back in the day an Uncle from Gelf was telling people about new technology in Mercedes headlights, it can capture light rays from opposite side vehicles and then reflect it back on them, so no need to worry about high beams!! Thanks TOI for taking me back to my childhood.

A friend of mine told me this - TOI is a good newspaper for when you have babies or puppies at home, there is a good amount of paper for the cleanup afterwards.

[srini1785]

President Xi was so exhausted by the hospitality tour around mahabalipuram and the two other famed H's of chennai ( Heat and humidity) that he ordered his driver at gunpoint to travel back to the hotel as fast as possible and the Honqqui did that in 1.9 Sec. That's how you get things done in china. I have seen lots of Tiktok videos on this subject to back up my theory .

[nikhilthegunner]

A Bugatti Chiron weighs at least 2 tons if I'm not mistaken and that car requires a quad turbo 8 litre W16 engine producing some 1500 bhp to get past 400 kmph. But this Chinese armoured limo weighing more than 3 tons only requires a 400 bhp V8 engine to achieve 400 kmph. Strange that the journalist did not do basic research and confirm facts which is basically his job.