Today in China Concept Cars the Patac Qilin, an attractive compact passenger car that debuted on the June 1999 Shanghai Auto Show
The Qilin was an interesting vehicle, a five-door hatchback with a slightly higher ground clearance than normal. Gray panels made it look a lot like the later ‘cross’ vehicles, which became very popular in China in the early 00’s. So Patac was far ahead of time!
The Shanghai GM and the PATAC logos.
Patac stands for Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, a joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, SAIC. Founded in 1997, Patac was created as a research and design centre for the Chinese and regional car industries.
Patac is still alive today. They do most of their work for the SAIC-GM car-making joint venture (previously known as Shanghai GM), but it is legally a separate entity. The Qilin was Patac’s first publicly displayed concept car.
The Patac design center in January 1998.
A look inside the studio, with the Qilin on screen.
The Qilin was designed by Burt Wong, a Chinese designer born in 1973 in Guangdong. He joined Patac after graduating in Industrial Design at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Design director at Patac was Phillip Zmood, an Australian designer who graduated from RMIT University in Melbourne.
The interior was designed by Chinese designer Cao Min, who later co-designed many other Patac concept cars, including the 2013 Buick Riviera concept. The photo shows Cao Min on the left and designs for the Qilin’s radio unit on the right.
Clay model.
The Patac Qilin was developed after market research in five “regional cities”. Later, many car makers started to design cars especially for these so called ‘second- and third tier cities’, where incomes and condition differ from those in the megacities. Patac was again early by spotting that market back in 1999.
The research learned that consumers wanted: “A small engine compartment area, adequate front driver & passenger space, with the largest possible rear passenger and cargo space, offering versatility of space available.” Patac said the Qilin was meant for families, small business, and farmers.
Unveiling at the 1999 Shanghai Auto Show.
The Qilin’s body was made from recyclable fiber glass, and this, according to Patac, “showed a green ideal to the people”. Patac was far ahead of time again, thinking about the environment a decade before that became important in China.
Design was very nice, almost funky, with a honeycomb grille, sporty wheels, and a single windshield wiper. The windows opened only partially, likely to make production cheaper.
Power came from a 16-valve four-cylinder petrol engine from Opel, mated to a five-speed manual transmission, sending power to the front wheels. Ground clearance was 165 millimeters. This gave the Qilin “semi off-road potential for driving on badly maintained countryside roads”.
It was a compact vehicle: 3900/1663/1624, with a 2550 wheelbase. The trunk was 1336 mm wide and could “hold a large television set”. With the seats down it could transport two bicycles, according to Patac.
The interior looked really cool too. There is a intriguingly shaped steering wheel without any buttons, a simple instrument pod with a red dial, a pink-red radio unit, and large round air vents. The aircon controls are low in the center. Windows are manually controlled, and there are large storage bins on the doors.
The Patac Qilin didn’t have any GM-brands branding. It had Patac and Qilin badges and its logo was a dangerous four-legged dragon.
In December 1999, the Patac Qilin was shipped to Beijing and displayed at Tiananmen Square, as a part of the festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary celebration of the People’s Republic of China. Sadly I don’t have any pictures of that occasion but I’ll keep looking.
The Qilin at Patac.
Strangely the Qilin, with so much foresight in its design and concept, never saw production. Even crazier, GM China never launched a car that was even close to the Qilin. A missed opportunity, big size!
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long time no see man. any new articles?
This specific vehicle was said to have been sent to an European GM facility for a crash test. And it never returned.