About the History of Cars in China
This is the history of the Dandong Auto Works.
The Andong Automobile Refit Works had the guts to make a copy of one of China’s most important cars: the Dongfeng CA71 made by the First Auto Works. It was chairman Mao Zedong himself who had ordered the design and production of the Dongfeng and Mao personally sat in the backseat of the first car on May 21, 1958.
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Yemingzhu, a brand owned by Chendu Tiuanju Automobile, a company based in the great city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province in China. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s they made some interesting cars.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Yemingzhu”
When strolling along the Yangze River banks (Changjiang river) in Chongqing, 1980, Oliver Barnham met a Austrian Steyr-Puch Haflinger which appeared to be Chinese made!
We all know the Hongqi CA770, the Shanghai SH760 or the Beijing BJ212. The Tianjin TJ740 is a rather unknown product. Time to show this interesting car.
Our research is most often a success, this is a story of a failure. Till today I am unable to solve the problem I am going to describe here.
I showed you some time ago the products exhibition in 1959 of the Nanjing Auto Works. I wrote about the two cars present: a clear copy of the Russian GAZ M20 Pobeda and an American style sedan.
During the late 1970s Shanghai Auto Works worked in two directions: developing a successor for its SH760/SH760A saloon and filling in the gap between the Shanghai saloon and the Hongqi limousine.
We have seen already the bigger models (SH762/SH763) developed during the Cultural Revolution.
This story is about the Shanghai SH771, according my opinion a wonderful project which flirted with the Mercedes Benz W116 S-Klasse (1972-1980). Continue reading “The Chinese Mercedes S-Klasse”
The history of the factory with the proud name “Chengdu Auto Works” goes back to September 1970, when there is a small reel in Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily): “Chengdu 120 lorries are being made in Chengdu”. The Cultural Revolution is there, what that means for the automobile industry we have decribed before.
The history of the Flyer is long and very typical for the Chinese automotive industry in the 1990’s and 2000’s. It was small four-door hatchback originally made by Xi’an Qinchuan Automobile, based in the great city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. Later on, it would become BYD’s first car.
Continue reading “This History Of The Flyer – From Qinchuan Alto To BYD”
In the early years of the 21st century Chery is a rapidly growing company. Chery shows SUV, MPV, sedan, van, so many concepts of different models. Including a larger sedan, via Italy a picture comes to China and arrives at my desk. It is the Chery F11 concept, a slim car design done by Pininfarina.
The photo has been taken at the roof of the Pininfarina design studios, and somehow it escaped the secrecy. The car has a fancy German license plate and an unknown logo. There is nothing known about engine, details etc. I don’t even know if it has an engine, or that you can ride it.
At least four projects were undertaken by FAW (First Auto Works) to develop a small family car. Well, to be exactly it was either FAW itself or the Changchun Research Institute, which functioned as the research and development department of FAW.
Continue reading “Four attempts to make a Hongqi family car.”