In recent years, Australia has seen a big influx of EV brands from China. While most like BYD have been working to bring EV prices down with growing competition, itās starting to change with a new ultra-luxury brandās cars seen in Sydney.
Two Huawei Luxeed Maextro S800 luxury sedans were spotted by EV enthusiast, Oliver M, at Port Botany this week and reshared by Ludicrous Feed on X.
This model is yet to be released in its local market in China and is expected to have a price range of $A220,000 to $A330,000 in China. With delivery, distribution and luxury car tax added for supply into the Australian market, it will likely start at above $A250,000.
Spotted in Sydney: Could this be the Maextro S800 luxury EV?
– Joint venture between Huawei and JACDown under for testing perhaps? š@Rizflip
šø Photo Credit: Oliver M pic.twitter.com/tstJmNVm0y
— Ludicrous Feed (@LudicrousFeed) March 28, 2025
Both sedans were spotted in a car park and featured different wheels with the same digital side mirrors.
The nearly 5.5-metre-long sedan will rival Mercedes-Benz Maybach and Rolls-Royce models that are also in the ultra-luxury sedan segment of the market.
This newly formed Maextro brand is a joint venture (JV) between Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and JAC.Ā
With JAC already selling vehicles in the Australian market, these cars could be here for right-hand-driver market testing and evaluation.
As mentioned above, the Maextro S800 was only recently revealed in China, with official sales beginning in May.Ā
Itās powered by multiple drivetrains, which include a dual-motor and a tri-motor system, which can deliver up to 635 kW of power and weighs up to 3.8 tonnes.
We've got some unofficial renders of the new Huawei-backed Maextro brand's S800 saloon. This is intended to be a Maybach-class car, built with JAC, the same guys that made Nio's cars. Suspect the interior will be something else on this. Pictures from Carblueprints. pic.twitter.com/DsRpuD71kT
— Inside China Auto (@InsideChinaAuto) November 24, 2024
Given the size of the car, itās normally expected to have a turning radius of a mini-bus, but thanks to its four-wheel steering tech itās more like a large sedan.
This ultra-luxury sedan is also packed with technology from Huawei, including itās latest self-driving hardware suite.Ā
The S800 includes 32 sensors, 4 LiDARs and an array of cameras to help the car in autonomous modes.Ā
The Huawei self-driving system is ranked by many as the best in the Chinese market, and with this model seen locally, it could be heading to Australia in 2025.
More details on he modelās specs and pricing will likely surface closer to when the model goes on sale in May.
Last year, we saw the introduction of the ultra-luxury people mover from Zeekr in the 009 MPV. Now, with Huawei Luxeed Maextro S800 sedan sightings, Australia might also become a key right-hand-drive market for multiple Chinese luxury brands and models in the coming years.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.