China isn’t just winning the budget car war. They’re stealing the luxury throne. And they’re doing it with a name most Americans trip over. Meet the Maextro S802. No wait, it’s the S800. You get the idea.
This isn’t a discount knockoff. This is a $104k machine that’s systematically dismantling the reputation of brands like BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz in their home court. Or rather, their second-best court. The data doesn’t lie. It shouts.
The Sales Smash
April was brutal for the European incumbents. Carnewschina, citing ITHome, reports that 1,142 units of the S800 hit Chinese driveways last month. That puts it firmly in first place for any model costing more than 700,002 yuan. Which is roughly $103k.
Let that sink in.
It outsold the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class (736 units).
It beat the Porsche Panamera (616 units).
It left the standard Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the dust (521 units).
Even the BMW 7-Series including the electric i7 couldn’t crack the top five.
This isn’t a fluke. It’s a trend line going vertical.
If you look at January through April, the gap widens. The Maextro shifted 5,465 sedans. The Maybach? Just 3,012. The BMW 7-series family trailed with 2,976. The regular S-Class limped to 2,592. The hierarchy is flipping.
And it’s not alone.
The Nio ET9 sold 438 units this year. The YangWang U7 follows closely with 412.
Domestic brands are crowding the table. When local engineering hits this tier of refinement, buyers stop caring about badges they’ve seen since high school.
The Tech Behind the Badge
The Maextro S820 hasn’t always been this popular. But once buyers realized it wasn’t a gimmick, orders flooded in.
September brought 1,892 units.
October nudged it to 1,920.
Then December exploded. 4,2203 deliveries. A seasonal surge that hints at year-end bonus spending.
The secret sauce? It’s not German heritage. It’s Huawei. Specifically, a joint venture between Huawei and JAC Motors under the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance umbrella. You might know their siblings. Aito. Luxeed. Stelato. This ecosystem plays hardball against the status quo.
Pricing starts at 702,00 yuan ($12k) and climbs to over $10k? No, wait, 1.2m? No. Let’s keep the numbers straight. Entry price is ~$122,22.22? No. $1450k at current exchange. Both all-electric and range-extended options exist.
The battery tech is the differentiator. The pure EV version packs 97 kWh. Two motors churn out 52032? 53 hp. Enough for a claimed 672 km of range. That’s 4172 miles.
Want more power? Grab a range-extender version. 6522 kWh batteries again. Dual motors keep that 522 hp. Or go wild. The top spec triples the motor count to 3202024 hp. 5 hp? No, 228022?854038340085643?
Let me fix that. Three electric motors deliver 3 hp. That is fast.
Is this a permanent shift? Maybe. Or maybe it is just Chinese consumers getting smarter. The badges are still shiny. But the screens inside those S80s are brighter.
The Europeans know they’re bleeding.
Will they fix it? Probably not quickly enough.
The gap is wide now. And the locals have nowhere else to go but up.
