Chinese President Xi Jinping brings his luxurious 18-foot armored Hongqi limousine to United States of America.

Xi’s custom-designed Hongqi, codenamed N701, travels to every country the Chinese president is visiting.

The Chinese leader departed from past practice of using a host country’s cars for state visits.

The move by Xi Jinping was seen as an attempt to promote the Chinese brand on the international stage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping turned up for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting on November 14 in San Francisco, California in his bulletproof Chinese-made Hongqi Limousine.

Xi’s custom-designed Hongqi, codenamed N701, which travels to every country the Chinese president is visiting, debuted during President Xi’s visit to Hong Kong on July 1, 2022.

The 18-foot customized car, believed to costs at least $700k, reportedly comes equipped with anti-rocket armor plates, thick bulletproof windows and systems to protect from biological and chemical weapons

Xi departed from past practice of using a host country’s cars for state visits. It was seen as an attempt to promote the Chinese brand on the international stage.

It’s in line with Xi Jinping’s 2012 directive to Communist Party cadres that they should only use Chinese cars.

Xi Jinping said :

“It doesn’t look right to sit in a foreign car. Lots of foreign leaders use limousines of their own country, unless there isn’t one.”

Xi is not the only one trying to sell his countries products to the world. Back in 2019, Vladimir Putin brought his new Russian-made Aurus Senat L700 limousine to G20 summit in Argentina to show it to prospective buyers.

Putin’s 6 tons Aurus Senat L700 limousine and a spare, caused stir amongst the local media with the Argentinian TV channel Mira TN calling the Limo a “Real Bunker On Wheels”.