China Concept Cars: The 2002 Hafei Menghuan Was A Cool Pininfarina Designed Coupe

In the great year of 2000 Chinese automaker Hafei Motors decided they needed a new design direction and a bit of much-needed cool. Hafei therefore asked famed Italian design studio Pininfarina to design a small city car and a concept car. The latter would eventually become the Hafei Menghuan.

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Hafei Motors (哈飞汽车) was founded in 1950 and based in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. It was a subsidiary of Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (HAMC), a large military-airplane maker.

Originally, Hafei was just a repair and assembly shop, without much manufacturing. That changed in the mid-1990’s when Hafei signed a license agreement with Suzuki to manufacture the Suzuki Carry minivan.

Songhuajiang HFJ6359, via CoolCarsInChina.

Initially, Hafei sold these cars under the Songhuajiang brand, named after the Songhua River, which crosses Heilongjiang. Designation was HFJ. As Chinese carmakers are wont to do, Hafei soon made more variants of the Carry than Suzuki ever did. In 2002, the Songhuajiang name was dropped and Hafei Motors started selling under the Hafei brand.

Hafei Xiaobaowang, via CarNewsChina.

Hafei Baili HFJ7090, via CarNewsChina.

In 1997 Hafei moved into real passenger cars with the Hafei Baili HFJ7090. It was largely based on the Daewoo Tico, but it is still unclear if it was a knockoff or some sort of CDK production.

Hafei Saima, via Navigator84.

In 1999 Hafei made a deal with Mitsubishi to produce the Mitsubishi Dingo under license in China. Production at Hafei started in 2001 under the name Hafei Saima.

In the meantime, Pininfarina had been working on the concept car since 2000. The target for the unveiling was the April 2002 Beijing Auto Show.

In the run up to the show Pininfarina released this design sketch, showing a very speedy vehicle with gull wing doors, large wheels, and even larger rear lights positioned at the back of the B-pillar.

On the eve of the show, Hafei released two images of the real thing. The entire cabin is surrounded by fiber glass panels, except for a small strip on the roof between the doors. The head lights are located on the base of the A-pillar. The indicators are on each side of the grille. The car is painted in a cool shade of beige, with 7-spoke silver-gray wheels. The fiery red interior has four seats.

The rear fiber glass panel is probably the most impressive part of the ‘canopy’. It runs all the way from the roof to the rear, and to the sides, flowing over the rear lights. There is a Pininfarina badge between the door and the rear wheel.

Finally, it was time for the unveiling. The Menghuan stood on a simple gray stage with a white background. She was accompanied by a very nice looking lady in a wedding dress. The indicators are clearly orange, which wasn’t so visible on the earlier images. The English name was HF Fantasy.

At the very same show, Hafei also debuted the HF 2 Lobo. This was the city car Hafei had asked Pininfarina to design. Like the Menghuan, the HF 2 Lobo has lights at the base of the A-pillar. But in this case, these lights are actually indicators, with the real lights located on the traditional space on each side of the grille.

That very same year, the HF 2 Lobo went into production as the Lobo (路宝). The Lobo would become very sucesful over the years, with many variants and facelifts and CKD production in various other countries. I may, one day, write the complete Lobo story. For now, it is back to the Menghuan.

A very clean design with a small grille. Mini cameras replaced the mirrors, the are located on the back side of the light unit. But oddly, there are no screens inside the car to show the mirror’s imagery.

Reverse light over the entire width of the hatch, with the indicators on each side.

Hafei did not release any information about the powertrain, so the Menghuan likely doesn’t have any.

Note the pattern in the glass.

The interior looks very modern but also rather unfinished. There are just three colors: red, gray, and white (for the dials).

The seats are very thin. The steering wheel seems large. There are two dials, two stalks, and a faux-screen in the center stack.

The camera housing sits on the back of the light unit, on de door.

A very large alarm button! Shifter design is very cool.

At the show, Hafei handed out a brochure. The logo on the grille is much larger than on the real car, and it is painted in red-white-blue.

The color scheme is based on the company’s corporate logo, but this logo was rarely used on cars.

A very simple yet elegant rear end. The exhaust pipes are a tad too obviously fake.

The Hafei Menghuan on a quiet moment.

Some of the design elements, most notably the grille and lights, would come back on future production vehicles. Pininfarina would design another two cars for Hafei; the Saibao sedan and the Zhongyi minivan.

Sources: Sina, Sohu, Sohu, PCauto, Chinacarforums.