Maextro S800 Unveiled in China as Huawei’s New Flagship EV Saloon

The all-new Maextro S800 is Huawei’s new flagship EV saloon that has its aim set on Maybach, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is further expanding its automotive venture via the HIMA alliance, as it launched the all-new Maextro S800. Borne out of its collaboration with JAC Motors, this all-electric flagship sedan promises to offer a similar level of grandeur and luxury as other top opulent brands such as Maybach, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce, albeit at a fraction of the price.

From the design itself we can clearly see that both Huawei and JAC have taken inspiration from said opulent brands when designing the Maextro S800—something that many Chinese automakers are guilty of in recent times. Key takeaways here include the Rolls-Royce-inspired disc wheels, the chromed-up front bumper garnish that looks Bentley-ish, and the Maybach-esque bi-tone exterior hue, to name a few.

Western inspirations aside, the S800 does get some unique design touches, including its sleek LED headlights with a full-width LED taillight bar to match, the unique star-patterned door handles, as well as the sleek fastback-style roofline that gives this already long car a much more elongated look.

How long, you ask? The S800 is no small feat, as it spans 5,480 MM long, 2,000 MM wide, 1,536 MM tall, and a 3,370 MM wheelbase, making it 99.99% bigger than any other Chinese cars on the road, Huawei CEO Rhicard Yu claims. While we can’t exactly fact-check this claim, the S800 is at least similar in size to some of its European-badged adversaries, which include the likes of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, Rolls-Royce Ghost, and Bentley Flying Spur.

Unfortunately, the joint venture did not shed much light on the S800’s innards, with the only clue we’re getting being the single teaser image of the back seat. From said image, we can see that the S800 gets its own iteration of Rolls-Royce’s ‘Starlight Headlining,’ while the plushly-wrapped leather back seats suggest that it will come in a four-seater layout, highlighting the chauffeur-driven nature of the car. Although not shown in said teaser image, we can expect the S800 to boast some serious tech amenities, given that the joint venture is spearheaded by one of the biggest tech firms in the world.

Also being kept secret are the S800’s powertrain figures, with the only piece of information given being that this EV saloon rides on Huawei’s proprietary Tuling Intelligent Chassis, which is the same underpinning used on other HIMA products such as the Luxeed S7. Provided that the S7 does come with an adaptive air suspension system, we can definitely expect the S800 will get the same treatment, too.

All this hush-hush on the S800’s specs is not a coincidence, as this sleek flagship EV saloon will only be making its Chinese market entry later in Spring 2025. Ahead of that, pre-bookings for the all-new Maextro S800 have already been opened, where its final price is expected to range from CNY 1 million to CNY 1.5 million (RM614,513 to RM921,769)—making it on-par with other electric luxury saloons such as the BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS, at least in China.

Photo credit: CarNewsChina