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Zhao Yongpo, general manager of the Harvard brand of Great Wall, posted on Weibo that the launch of the second-generation Harvard H9 was temporarily suspended and postponed, expressing sincere apologies to users and friends in the media. Zhao Yongpo explained that the reason for the suspension was that the leaders thought that the planning of the listing conference originally scheduled for today was lack of creativity and asked to be re-creative as soon as possible to organize the most creative and meaningful listing conference. Based on the re-planning of the content and listing form of the second-generation Harvard H9, the launch time of the car was adjusted to September 25.

The Harvard H9 is the first seven-seat medium-and large-sized SUV under the Harvard brand, which went on sale in November 2014 with a price range of 22.98 yuan to 272800 yuan. In June 2015, the Harvard H9 five-seater model went on sale at a price of 21.98 yuan to 262800 yuan. Since then, it has undergone several changes, including appearance adjustments in 2017, 2020 and 2022 respectively, but no replacement has been carried out. The upcoming second-generation Harvard H9 can be regarded as a brand-new replacement model, which was first unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2024. It started pre-sale on the 25th of last month and launched a total of three models with a pre-sale range of 20.59-235900 yuan.

According to the original plan, the second-generation Harvard H9 will be launched and listed tonight, which has been adjusted to September 25. The postponement of the conference also means that the new car has been on sale for nearly a month or so, but it can be picked up in stores today. In response to the postponement of the press conference, Zhao Yongpo said that in order to show sincerity and apology, a lot of benefits were planned on the day the new car was launched, and the previous pre-sale rights will also be extended to September 25, and the users will be refunded after the new car listing rights are released.

A brief review of the appearance design of the new car, the new car adopts the popular "square box" shape design, the whole is rough and bold, and the hard cross-country attribute is full. The front face is designed with a sturdy chrome-plated front middle net and decorated with rivets, while the middle is inlaid with the letter "HAVAL" to enhance recognition. The outside of the headlights on both sides is square in outline, while the interior is equipped with circular LED daily lights, which is very eye-catching in visual effect.

On the side of the body, the new car uses a non-load-bearing body, with a waistline running through the entire body, with square rearview mirrors, conventional door handles, 19-inch rims and city stack-type large wheel arch design to enhance the sense of movement and strength of the vehicle. In the rear part, the new car still continues the standard hard off-road vehicle, the external spare tire and the longitudinally distributed taillight group are not absent, the taillight is longitudinally arranged, which is composed of two rectangles, which is very eye-catching, and the tail door is still opened laterally. At the same time, it is equipped with a large square spare tire "schoolbag", the license plate frame is located on the left side of the rear, and the rear bumper is thick and strong. The overall shape also fits well with the body shape of the square box. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the new car are 5070 (1960) / 1976/1930mm, and the wheelbase is 2850mm. Compared with the current model, the new car is longer in size. For comparison, the length, width and height of the current Harvard H9 are 5077/1926/1900mm and the wheelbase is 2800mm.

In the interior part, the interior of the new car adopts a new design, and the layout is equally rugged, equipped with a newly styled steering wheel and a 14.6-inch suspended central control screen, and the position of the sub-instrument console adopts the same shift lever design as the tank 300, Harvard Raptor and other models. Physical buttons and knobs are distributed around to facilitate off-road operation. In terms of seat layout, the new car offers a choice of 5-seat and 7-seat versions, with panoramic skylights.

In terms of power, the new car currently offers only 2.0T gasoline engine models with a maximum power of 165 kilowatts and a peak torque of 385 Nm, matching an 8-gear automatic transmission; a subsequent model with a 2.4 T diesel engine is expected to be launched with a maximum power of 137 kilowatts and a peak torque of 480 Nm, matching a 9-gear automatic transmission.

As the first seven medium-and large-scale hard-core SUV under the Harvard brand, the early Harvard H9 once became the ceiling of the independent brand SUV market with a pro-people price of 200000 yuan, with retail sales of 17300, 11500 and 12400 vehicles respectively from 2020 to 2022. But starting in 2023, with the increase in the number of models of the same class and increased competition in this segment, Harvard H9 sales began to fall, falling to 5792 in 2023, compared with 2743 in the first eight months of this year.

From the perspective of this replacement model, the overall change of the new car is still obvious, with substantial adjustments to the appearance and interior, while the body size has also been lengthened, and it is still unknown whether the new car can return to the highlight moment after the launch of the new car. the expected price may play a key role. But what is certain is that now more and more independent brands have begun to lay out "hard off-road" market segments and achieve electrification. As a domestic hard-line off-road SUV model, the new generation of Harvard H9 will also face greater competitive pressure after its launch.

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