Why The Wuling Hongguang Is The Best Selling Car Model In China

hello everybody and welcome I am Ethan with wheels boy and today I would like to start our video with a question what is the best-selling car model in the Chinese automotive market know if you don't know the answer to this question you might be imagining something like an affordable small sedan or a small crossover or if you're American you might need to be thinking of a Ford f-150 pickup truck or something like that well these are all wrong because the best-selling car model in the Chinese market is this the Wuling Hong Kong today I would like to delve into why the home Gwang out sells models from giant corporations like Volkswagen General Motors and Toyota in the Chinese car market there are a few reasons that the Hong Kong line is so popular but let's start with the price this particular car is the Hong Kong plus and it retails for around $10,000 to understand why that's such a steal we need to dive in and see what that money gets you [Music] starting from the outside you can see that the Hong Kong has a practical design it's a box because boxes are very good at putting a bunch of stuff inside of them this actually belongs to a segment of cars that is often referred to as Mombasa here in China that translates directly to bread car and it makes sense if you look at it if for most angles just looks like a big loaf of bread the only concession to style that I can find is the small rear spoiler here at the back but I'm guessing it doesn't produce f1 car levels of downforce overall though I think it's an honest design that doesn't try to hide the fact that it's got practicality as its raison D etre sorry my Chinese is much better than my French for a car with such a small footprint the Hong Kong has an incredible amount of interior space if I just open up the rear here having a look inside you can see why this car is one of the driving forces behind the entire Chinese economy imagine how much stuff you can fit in here if you didn't have the seats in it that practical shape is another big reason that the Chinese market loves the Hong Kong this isn't the only configuration there are also two five and eight seat versions as well as ones with sliding doors the two-seat version is the one you see the most as they are used to haul everything and anything around China cities it is the work vehicle of choice for plumbers construction sites butchers fruit sellers and more or less anyone that needs a cheap way to move a lot of stuff or people it also helps that pickup trucks are not allowed into the center of most Chinese cities so they are off the table as a work vehicle the theme of practicality over style extends into the interior as well here in the center console you have a touchscreen flanked by one two three four five six touch sensitive buttons and three knobs and that's pretty much it material quality here on the interior is well it's not great but this is a cheap car so you kind of expect this level of hard plastic to be everywhere one big benefit that this car has is that the greenhouse is much larger than many many other modern cars so a lot of light is allowed in and that keeps it from feeling like kind of a plastic coffin as you drive around it's not all good news on the interior front while this higher trim level car has both driver and passenger side airbags lower trim levels have no airbags at all let alone the side curtain or side impact airbags that will be required to be sold in the European or North American markets none of the Willing Hong Kong line have electronic stability program accessible yet everyday sitting in the back seat you can see that space is actually quite adequate at least for second row citizens the material quality of these seats both front and rear is is is fine I imagine that this leather is not particularly genuine but it will wear very well which is important in a car like this the seats are also very comfortable actually kind of more supportive than you might expect from the back seats of an MPV like this they're not m3 level hugging you but they're also not seat cushions kind of seats from a 1970s Cadillac okay actually now that I'm in the back seat I have to admit that there's more space than you might actually expect I'm about five foot nine 5 foot eight probably you know 1.73 meters or whatever and while I do have you know plenty of legroom here my only issue is the fact that I'm kind of eating my knees because of the raised level of the floor but if I had to sit back here for a short trip I I can handle it the Hong Kong plus is powered by a 1.5 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder attached to a six-speed manual transmission all hóng hóng models are also rear-wheel drive despite what you might be thinking this rear-wheel drive a manual turbocharged vehicle is not the performance MPP you've been dreaming of this engine maxes out at 147 horsepower and 250 Newton meters of torque non-plus models make do with a 1.2 liter naturally aspirated engine considering the speed of this 1.5 turbo I can't imagine how slow that 1.2 must be acceleration off the line is adequate there's plenty of torque available from the start that's probably going to be pretty helpful when you fill the back of this thing up with pipes hammers fruit meter people or whatever it is that you want to haul around with it this thing was built to handle heavy loads and rough country roads handling itself wasn't really the goal as a result it kind of wallows in the corners the biggest complaint I have though is the handling it's it's definitely the NVH the noise especially from the engine is almost deafening there's just got to be zero sound deadening on the firewall and on the interior here overall though it's really easy and comfortable to drive I think this thing is nearly impossible to stall and as far as serving as a thing for carrying people and carrying cargo I think it does a really good job I mentioned this earlier when talking about the interior but it really shows up when you're driving the car and that's the fact that this thing has a pretty big greenhouse for a modern vehicle a lot of the cars you get in now due to the safety standards they're kind of like driving around in a bunker you've got to rely on all the cameras and everything just to see what's around you in this car you've got plenty of glass all around and your visibility is is fantastic I think the only place that it doesn't work so great is looking out the back and that's only because you've got a seat that kind of blocks it oh my god blocks if you see this is what I mean when I say that the suspension is up the suspension rudimentary driving around in this rough road you feel it's not harsh but you definitely get jostle around I would describe it kind of like how it feels to drive a pickup truck especially when it doesn't have anything in the back [Music] now that we've had a chance to have a closer look at the ruling Hong Kong I hope that you guys can better understand why this car out sells so many others here in the Chinese market it has a combination of affordability practicality and efficiency that a great deal of Chinese consumers find very compelling would it work in the European or North American markets no it wouldn't it doesn't have the kind of refinements that we expect nor does it have the even basic safety equipment that was required by law but I think most Chinese consumers are willing to put up with that a little bit at least for now thanks everybody for watching and I want to encourage you to go to the comments down below and let us know if there are any Chinese market cars that you're interested in learning more about after all the Chinese automotive market is the largest in the world there's a lot to learn

Channel: Wheelsboy

Views: 174,476

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Id: lyvVe_i8Bp8

Length: 9min 22sec (562 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020