China’s FAW Haima to make India debut at Auto Expo 2020: What to expect?

Major automobile manufacturers around the world are gearing up to showcase their latest and upcoming products at the upcoming Auto Expo in 2020. Though a few manufacturers will be absent from the show, Chinese carmaker, First Automobile Works (FAW), will make its debut in the Indian market with its subsidiary, Haima Automobile.

The company will join the likes of Great Wall Motors, who will be debuting its Haval SUV at the Auto Expo. Haima Automobile was founded in 1988 and primarily sold rebadged Mazda models in China. It was eventually taken over by the FAW group and they began developing their own range of SUVs, MPVs and electric vehicles. These were based on the company’s Haima Global Architecture (HMGA) platform.

Haima Automobiles or the FAW group have made no official announcement about the cars it will be launching in the country; certain safe assumptions can be made based on their recent activity. The company recently unveiled the Haima 8S midsize SUV, which is equipped with a 1.6-litre T-GDI petrol engine which makes 193 bhp of maximum power and 293 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox, which gives the car a 0-100 km/h time of fewer than 8 seconds.

It also recently unveiled the 7X at the 2019 Guangzhou Auto Show in China. It is an Innova-rivalling MPV which has a seating capacity of seven passengers and is expected to be equipped with competitive features and aesthetics.

The company is expected to reveal further details as it approaches the date of the Auto Expo, which will be held from February 7 to February 12, 2020.