Huawei’s First Electric Car Maextro S800 Launched In China

Maextro, the joint venture between Chinese tech giant Huawei and automaker JAC, has launched its first electric car for the Chinese market: the Maextro S800. Meant to be a stately sedan, the Maextro S800 is aimed to take on the likes of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class and will come in either a four- or five-seater configuration. Prices for the car start from as low as 7,08,000 yuan and stretch all the way up to 10,18,000 yuan (which is roughly ₹84 lakh - ₹1.20 crore, without Indian taxes and duties).

It has a very Rolls-Royce Phantom appeal to it, with a long bonnet and boxy front end. And yet, the face looks very electric-like with clean lines and LED lighting all around. At the rear, it has connected taillights with a nebula-theme called “the galaxy scroll” that is aimed at giving a “milky way galaxy” feel during night time.

Maextro is offering the car in electric as well as hybrid avatars. The pure electric variant has a dual-motor setup that puts out 390 kW and is powered by a 95 kWh battery. The ideal claimed range for this electric-only model is 702 km. On the hybrid, or as Huawei calls it Extended-range Electric Vehicle, you get two options. Firstly, there is a dual-motor setup with a 1.5-litre turbo engine that puts out a combined 505 kW. The triple-motor setup takes the power up to 750 kW.

Both hybrid powerplants employ the same 95 kWh battery and as result the range figures are an astonishing 1,333 km and 1,200 km respectively, of which 400 km and 365 km are when you use electric only propulsion. Another shocking number that the Maextro S800 has shared is the charging time which is 12 minutes for 10-80 percent charge via its ultra fast charging outlets.

It has even got rear-wheel steering, which allows this gigantic car to have a turning radius of 5.05 m and it can also crab-walk. You get two wheel sizes to opt from: 20-inch spoke wheels or 21-inch ‘big disc’ wheels.