A novel 18/12 poles hybrid excitation doubly salient machine(HEDSM) with wide speed range is proposed in this paper. The detailed structure, mathematical model and electromagnetic characteristics of HEDSM based on finite element analysis model are described in this paper. Then, the control strategy for wide speed range is given and the firing angle, extinguished angle of the switches and dc field current are optimized according to different speed ranges in the motor driving system subsequently. Finally, a field-circuit coupling simulation model of HEDSM driving system with open-loop control is built and the tested torque-speed curves and waveforms show that HEDSM acquires wide speed range under the proposed control algorithm.