Luxury Chinese EV Start-up HiPhi Heads to Europe

By the end of 2023 there will be a new kid on the EV block, with the Chinese HiPhi car company planning on heading into Europe. The start-up is a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based technology company, Human Horizons. Shortly after the expansion into the Europe, HiPhi plans to make right-hand-drive models available in the UK, although no firm dates are planned for the UK models as yet.

The company is a highly tech-savvy company with a slowly expanding array of luxury models. HiPhi will be introducing the HiPhi X SUV (the best-selling luxury SUV over in China right now) and the HiPhi Z into Germany and Norway initially, with a further roll out into more of Europe planned.

HiPhi announced its plans at the Shanghai Motor Show recently, as well as providing some information on a third planned model, the HiPhi Y. The Y will be a slightly smaller crossover vehicle with European roads in mind.

HiPhi has taken a slightly different approach to many other manufacturers and collaborated with gaming designers to put together the infotainment system’s graphics. If that sounds intriguing, then the HiPhi Z’s ability to become a sort of projector when stationary is even more intriguing. HiPhi says that the Z’s headlights will be capable of projecting the same images that are simultaneously being shown on the infotainment screen. It sounds like the HiPhi Z can become its own self-contained drive-in movie. The tech doesn’t stop there, with the infotainment system itself being able to be rotated, rather like a high-end digital camera screen, to offer up a better viewing angle for the driver or passengers. The HiPhi Z also has the ability to provide light show entertainment thanks to lighting panels to the front and rear. The Z sounds like it would fit perfectly into somewhere like the world of the Japanese Daikoku automobile street-meets.

The innovation continues with the HiPhi X SUV, which features rear doors which can be split in two. Coupled with this, the X has hinged roof panels that can lift up, taking the top half of the split door with it – it’s all rather like having semi-gullwing doors. I’m not entirely sure what the benefits of this curiosity might be, but it will certainly give rear passengers an open air feel to being in a car whilst the SUV is stationary.

The HiPhi X will feature a pair of electric motors at each axle, pushing out 300bhp and offering up a 0-62mph of around 3.9 seconds. In perfect conditions, the HiPhi X’s range will be around 400 miles, which is pretty decent. Meanwhile, the somewhat sportier HiPhi Z will offer around 500bhp and 605lb ft of torque with a 0-62mph of just 3.8 seconds from its twin motors.

It sounds like HiPhi might be causing a few ripples when it hits European shores with these luxury EVs, though it does sound like the company will be aiming for a slightly younger market compared to luxury competitors like Porsche and Tesla.

Images: hiphi.com, human-horizons.com