On a sunny day in summer, I went to a Hyptec experience store in the Hopson One shopping mall in central Beijing. The store had 3 cars on display: the Hyptec HT SUV, the Hyptech GT sedan, and the manic Hyptec SSR supercar. Let’s have a look.
What is Hyptec?
Hyptec is a Chinese performance EV brand owned by GAC. It was a line under the Aion brand until 2022 when it became an independent brand. Initially, the English name was Hyper. This year, it was changed to Hyptec. The Chinese name remains unchanged: 昊铂, Hàobó. Hyptec has its own distribution network with traditional dealers and experience stores, some of which are based in large shopping malls.
The store was about 4 meters wide and 10 meters deep, with enough space for at least another 2 cars. Inside were various boards and cabinets, balloons, fake plants, and a seating area with 3 great seats and a small table. There were 3 salesmen in gray suits in the shop, and I was the only visitor.
Soft-tone colors and wuzzy cartoons. This kind of decoration is more common with female-focused brands, of which China has a lot. Hyptec however, is a more male-oriented performance kind of brand. So why the soft-tone flowery stuff?!
The Hyptec SSR
The car I wanted to see most was the SSR, which I hadn’t seen before. The SSR is a halo car for the Hyptec brand. It was launched on the Chinese EV market in 2023. It is a full-electric supercar with an almost-classic ‘mid-engine’ supercar design.
An old-school paper sign showing the 6 available colors for the SSR. The car in the shop was painted in Quantum Red. Customers can choose between 3 brake caliper colors and two kinds of alloy wheels.
The SSR was designed by Pontus Fontaeus, a
The Hyptec SSR is based on the AEP 3.0 platform. It has a triple-motor all-wheel drive powertrain, with two motors at the rear and one at the front. The combined output is 1224 hp (900 kW) and 1230 Nm. It has a 2-speed electric gearbox, just like a Porsche Taycan.
That is serious power and the SSR is thus seriously fast. The top speed is 251 km/h and it sprints from 0 to 100 in just 1.9 seconds. It looks smaller than it is. Size: 4556/1988/1230, with a 2650 wheelbase and a 2180 kg curb weight. Electricity is stored in a 74.69 kWh ternary lithium battery. The electricity consumption is 16.7kWh/100 km. The range is 506 kilometers CLTC, which is quite a lot for a supercar.
The interior looks very neat, but not as racy as the exterior. The dull gray color scheme probably doesn’t help. The real leather seats are wide, and it has carbon trim on the dashboard. It has a square-shaped 3-spoke steering wheel. The 8.88-inch driver’s display is located far away from the driver, almost at the windshield’s edge, this is a typical part of Hyptec’s interior design. The main driver-focused screen has a size of 14.6 inches.
The Hyptec SSR is not cheap. The top-trim variant is the most expensive Chinese production car at the moment. The price list of the SSR:
- Standard: 1.286 million yuan or $181K.
- Sprint: 1.36 million or $195K.
- Ultimate: 1.686 million yuan or $237K.
The car in the photos is the Sprint version. All versions use the same power train but the Ultimate is more track-focused with a fixed wing on the back.
A large poster on the wall shows various technical achievements, like 5C fast charging.
The Hyptec GT
The GT was the first Hyptec, launched in 2023. It is a sporty sedan with a length of 4.9 meter and active aero at the front. The flaps in the bumper open when the vehicle is at speed. It also has scissor front doors, like a Lamborghini, and a lidar above the windscreen. On the left side of the car is a board showing the available trim levels.
The GT was ‘parked’ on the grass. The car in the shop was painted in a color called Holographic Silver, which is a great name. It has pop-out door handles, black mirrors, darkened lights, and black six-spoke alloy wheels.
The Hyptec GT is available in lots of colors and wraps. Wrapping is a big thing in China, and it is cheap. Many Chinese brands have therefore started to offer wraps from the factory.
The interior looked great, albeit a little boring in a gray color scheme called Midnight Stars. The steering wheel is perfectly round. That is an exception in China, most car makers fit steering wheels in all sorts of weird shapes. The driver’s display is far away from the driver again.
The Hyptec GT is a single-motor rear-wheel drive car. Customers can choose between two power units: 180 kW/355 Nm and 240 kW/430 Nm. The top speed is always limited to 180 km/h, and 0-100 is gone in 6.5 and 4.9 seconds. Electricity is stored in a 70 kWh LFP battery or an 80 kWh ternary lithium battery. The range ranges from 600 to 710 kilometers CLTC. The price range is 189.900 yuan to 259.900 yuan, $26.7K – $36.5K
Almost every Chinese car dealer and experience shop organizes lotteries and other fuzzy fun. Customers can win stuff if they pre-order a car or test-drive a new model. At the Hyptec shop, the prizes were mystery boxes, tea sets, beach trolleys, and giant plush bears. The most interesting price was the Hyper-branded camping chair. I guess the shop still had them in stock. The name change to Hyptec happened only a few months ago. That makes these chairs true collectibles!
Hyptech HT
The Hyptec HT is a new SUV coupe, launched in the summer. It is almost 5 meters long and it has rear gullwing doors. Hyptec really likes weird doors. The HT has a sporty design, with darkened headlights that work really well with the Polar White color. It is slippery too with a drag coefficient of only 0.245 Cd.
The doors in action.
Not a round steering wheel in the HT, this one is more oval, with a flat bottom and Tesla-style scroll wheels. The pedals look sporty with an aluminum frame. The touch screen is a true giant with a 14.6-inch diameter. The seats are made of real leather, not the plastic fake stuff. This is true for every Hyptec car.
The tailgate has an integrated spoiler. The HT is based on the same platform as the GT, with a single-motor rear-wheel drive powertrain. Two versions again: 180 kW/355 Nm and 250 kW/430 Nm. The top speed is limited to 183 km/h. Not 180 or 185. Nope, 183 it is. 0-100 takes 6.2 or 5.8 seconds. Electricity is stored in a 70 kWh LFP, an 80 kWh ternary lithium battery, or in a big 100 kWh ternary lithium unit. The latter is not yet available in the GT. The range ranges from 550 to 825 kilometers. The price range is 213.900 yuan to 269.900, $30K – $38K.
How is Hyptec doing in China? Sadly, not too well. In September it reached 74th place in the charts with sales of 1801 cars. It ranked just below Citroen and just above Zhidou. The new HT is by far the best seller with a massive 80.73% of sales, followed by the GT with 19.21% and the SSR with a paltry 0.06%, and that equaled one (01) car.
Then it was time to leave! Love you Love you Love you, with one of the largest stuffed brown bears I had ever seen in a car shop. It was a good visit and I was happy to see the SSR in person. The chance to see one on the road seems small, sadly. There was an Xpeng shop to the left and many more shops in the mall. More on all those in later posts!