Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Tianma Auto – Part 2

Tianma in the 2000s

This is the second part of my story about Tianma Auto, part of the Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™) series. Part 1 is right here. China’s car market started to boom in the early 2000s, with zillions of new car makers and models. Tianma’s lineup exploded, with dozens of pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans. Tianma also produced the usual Kia Sorento and  Honda CR-V clones.

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Technical and Industrial Exposition of Citroën Vehicles in Guangzhou, June 1980.

Citroën CX in China, 1980.

After Mao died in 1976, Deng Xiaoping in 1978 announced the ‘opening up’ of China. The Western automobile industry quickly responded: all the big companies were trying to negotiate with China to get a part of the pie.

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Volkswagen Almost Produced The Transporter T4 In China.

At the end of the last, and at the beginning of this century, both FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai-Volkswagen were interested in producing the Volkswagen Transporter. In the end, it didn’t happen. This is how, and why.

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Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Tianma Auto – Part 1

Intro

Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Tianma Auto, a brand owned by the No. 9506 Factory of the People’s Liberation Army of China. The No. 9506 was an air force-owned vehicle-refit factory. It was one of many army-related companies that moved into the car market in the 1990s. To keep this article and my time in check, I have divided it into two parts: 1) until the 1990s and 2) the 2000s.

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More information about the first Jinggangshan from Beijing and its replicas.

After the unveiling of the replica of the first Jinggangshan, there is even more to tell you now.

Let us go back to 1958.

Jingganshan, 1958. Assembling the body at the Volkswagen platform. Registration 1*05234.

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Baolong Motors.

Mr. Yang Longiang  established in 1998 Baolong Motors, to produce bullet-proof automobiles, mainly for the banking industry. Baolong had facilities in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Sanjiang and Zhanjiang.  The official name of the company was Guangzhou Baolong Special Vehicle Co. Ltd.

Baolong TBL5045XYCF. Based on Jiangling Ford Transit JX1046. Photo copyright Erik van Ingen Schenau 2001.

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