Here we have a Haima 7X seen on the roads of the Chinese capital Beijing in the great summer of 2023. The good Haima was painted in a color called Beach White, with a crazy grille and sporty five-spoke alloy wheels. The owner put a sun reflector behind the windshield, and rightly so, as the hot sun was pounding on the MPV.
Haima is a Chinese car brand owned by First Auto Works (FAW). The Haima brand started as a joint venture between Hainan Auto and Mazda, hence the Haima name, and eventually became a fully-owned brand under FAW. For w short while, in the late 2010s, the Haima brand appeared to be dead and gone, but it is still alive today, selling 3 models: the Haima 6P SUV, the Haima 8S SUV, and the Haima 7X MPV. The Haima 7X is the petrol version. There is also an electric version called the Haima 7X-E.
The Haima 7x was launched on the Chinese car market in 2020. It was designed by Yuan Wang, a Chinese designer who worked at Pininfarina at the time. In 2021 he was hired away by BYD where he became Chief Designer. BYD was apparently impressed by Yuan’s work on the 7X. Well, it sure is a daring design, with sharp and soft lines, creases and corners, and an overall strangeness. It ain’t easy in China to design something that stands out, with so many cars and competition, but I think Yuan, Pininfarina, and Haima did the job just right.
The Haima 7X is a 7-seat MPV with a 2/2/3 seating setup. The interior looks quite nice with lots of beige leather and piano black trim. It has a twin 12.3-inch screen, combining the instrument panel and the infotainment. The owner added a neck pillow. And we have a Kleenex alarm!
More neck pillows and seat covers on the second row. The seats have two armrests and a lot of space in between. The dimensions of the Haima 7X are 4815/1874/1720, with a 2860 wheelbase and a 1670 kg curb weight.
The rear is as busy as the rest of the car, with an upside-down shark fin on the D-pillar, large lights, and a black tailgate. The Haima 7X is a front-wheel drive car. Power comes from a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine with an output of 165 hp and 240 Nm. The motor is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.
The 7X badge, with the X in red. It appears to be almost the same red as our watermark. The top speed is 165 km/h and it consumes 7.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers.
Character time: 海马汽车, Hǎimǎ Qìchē, Haima Auto.
The grille is the most impressive part of the design, shiny, with nine vertical bars and an extra large Haima logo. Cars of the Haima brand are quite rare in Beijing, most stay closer to their home down south. And indeed, the license plate is from Hainan Province, the home of Haima. That’s a long ride, around 2650 kilometers almost straight north. It must have been a great adventure in a strange but interesting MPV.