Maextro S800: Huawei’s electric sub €150k Maybach competitor

Maextro, the joint venture between Chinese tech giant Huawei and car manufacturer JAC, has unveiled its first model: the Maextro S800. It is a fully electric luxury sedan meant to compete with the likes of Maybach-Mercedes, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce, but with a sub-€150,000 price tag and high levels of autonomy.

Huawei, the Chinese conglomerate primarily known in Europe for its smartphones and other tech products, has co-produced cars in China since 2023 as part of the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA).

Four collaborative brands fall under this umbrella: AITO (together with Seres), Luxeed (with Chery), Stelato (with BAIC), and Maextro (with JAC), with the latter being the most upmarket of all.

One of the biggest Chinese cars ever

Now, Maextro has unveiled its first production model: the S800. It is a very large sedan, measuring 5,480 mm in length, 2,000 mm wide, and 1,536 mm tall, with a massive 3,370 mm wheelbase. According to Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei’s car division, this makes it “larger than 99.99% of models on the road.”

The technical details are not yet known, but the Maextro S800 is said to be built on the second-generation Turing platform, which powers the Stelato S9. Thanks to a roof-mounted Lidar unit and AI-powered “Super Cruise,” “Super Awareness,” and “Super Protection,” among other superlatives, level 3 autonomy is promised.

Familiar luxury design elements

In terms of design, the two-tone launch color scheme and dish-style wheels resemble Maybach and Rolls-Royce’s offerings. A galaxy theme can be seen throughout the Maextro S800’s exterior and interior, with a starry pattern visible in the light clusters, on the door handles, and on the roof in the interior.

The S800’s dashboard is still a mystery, however. The only interior photo shows two individual rear seats and what looks like a refrigerator cabinet between them.

Production of the Maextro S800 is likely to start around the end of the year, and pre-sale pricing has already been announced. Interested customers can deposit 20,000 yuan (around €2,600), and the total price will vary between 1 and 1.5 million yuan (€131,000 to €197,000).