Today in Crazy Car Production Days of Guangdong (CCPDoG™):Sanjiu Auto. This company made at least five cars under the infamous Guangdong scheme in the 1990’s. Read all the details about it here.
The case of Sanjiu (meaning Triple Nine) Auto is a particular weird one. Normally, under the Guangdong scheme, the scheming parties would look for an existing car maker with a valid license to piggy back on. They would ship in half finished cars from abroad, and ‘produce’ them in China using that car maker’s license and designation.
But Sanjiu Auto didn’t do anything of that.
Sanjiu Auto was a Guangdong based subsidiary of the Sanjiu Enterprise Group, a large Beijing based state owned conglomerate whose main business was the manufacturing of medicines and pharmaceuticals.
But in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, with the messy opening of China’s economy to the wider word, the company started to diversify like a madman. The got into engineering, real estate, and cars. They had subsidiaries all over the country.
In 1995 they bought the People’s Liberation Army No. 5408 Factory, a small car maker based in Luoyang in Henan Province, that made a series of old-school SUVs under the Ling Kong brand.
This gave the Sanjiu Enterprise Group the license they needed to make cars. Next, they set up two subsidiaries: Guangdong Sanjiu Auto and Hong Kong Sanjiu Auto. Now they had all they needed to make cars under the Guangdong scheme! A company in Hong Kong to buy and ship the cars, a company in Guangdong to ‘produce’ the cars, a company in Henan for the license, and a head office in Beijing or rule over it all.
Sadly, it didn’t end well. The chairman of the company was convicted in 1999 for real estate fraud and a messy gold-course deal. Read more about the company’s history here (in Chinese).
Now back to the cars. The known Sanjiu Auto cars are:
- Honda Odyssey (first generation, RA1).
- Isuzu Trooper (second generation).
- Mitsubishi Pajero (second generation, V20).
- Suzuki Vitara (first generation).
Even though Sanjiu Auto had the PLA No. 5408 Factory’s Ling Kong brand and KJ designation, they didn’t really use those. Instead, they simply used the 999 brand, and none of their cars has a visible KJ-designation badge.
It also appears that the original manufacturers of the vehicles had nothing to do with Sanjiu, in that way is was a classic CCPDoG company.
The Sanjiu badge covering the original Honda badge on a Sanjiu Honda Odyssey. They even used the blue color scheme!
The first generation Honda Accord (North America) was made from 1995 until 1999, exactly during the time that Sanjiu got into cars. Power came from a 2.2 liter four-cylinder petrol engine.
Badge screwed to the car, located above the Odyssey badge. It says: Sanjiu Qiche, using the traditional-Chinese character for car (車).
A blue example with after-market wheels.
And oddly, the Sanjiu badge sits below the Odyssey badge on this car, and it seems glued instead of screwed. This kind of sloppiness is typical for the Guangdong scheme ‘production’.
Next up is the second generation Isuzu Trooper, made from 1991 until 2002. Most common engine was a 3.2 liter V6.
No Sanjiu badge on the grille, but there is…
… a Sanjiu badge on the right side, just above the door handle:
The third car we know about is the second generation Mitsubishi Pajero, made from 1991 until 1999. This car was very popular during the crazy Guangdong days, at least a dozen other companies sold it as well.
The variant we have here is powered by Mitsubishi’s 2.8 liter four-cylinder turbo-diesel. That is rather special, as most of the Pajero’s we have seen so far were petrol-powered.
A single image of another Pajero, with the Sanjiu Auto badge, and the Sanjiu name on the door handle. Sadly I don’t have any other photos of this car.
The last Sanjiu Guangdong car we know about is the first generation Suzuki Vitara 3-door. It was made from 1988 until 1998 with several facelifts and updates. This Sanjiu car seems based on the 1992-1994 model but the wheels are surely newer. The Vitara was available with all sorts of engines, the most common was a 1.6 liter petrol.
The Sanjiu Vitara had the blue 999 badge up front, again simply covering-up the Suzuki badge.
‘Winner’ decal probably not factory-standard but very typical for the period. Vitara badge is original.
Same thing for the rear bumper, although there were carmakers in the 1990’s that offered these as options.
Sanjiu Auto badge on the back, above the door handle.
And that was Sanjiu Auto’s contribution to the Crazy Car Production Days of Guangdong.
Sources:
Odyssey: Aishidelu, Daotuhuang (Weibo seems gone).
Trooper: Jimmy7.
Pajero: FBlife, FBlife, Goodluck.
Vitara: Xarng.