Confusion about the Renault Scenic from Beijing.

The Beijing Automotive Group Co. and Renault (France) announced in July 1999 the assembling of the Renault Scenic (First Gen.) in Beijing.

The 4134mm long five-door MPV was going to be named Beijing BJ6410 Fengjing (Scenic) and sold for 100.000-220.00 renminbi, depending on the version. The car targeted urban families, small companies and the taxi market, according mr. An Qingheng, the general manager of Beijing Automotive.

The Scenic had a wheelbase of 2564mm, LxWxH were 4134x 1719x 1600mm. The engine, a 1598cc 4-cylinder, was good for 66kW/5000rpm.

The car was going to be available with either petrol 1.6-litre or a hybrid (petrol/lpg). There was also a 2-litre engine. It was able to meet Euro 3.
Three versions: deluxe, standard or economy.

In December 1999 the car was shown at the ’99 Beijing International Motor Vehicle Protection Technology and Products Exhibition.

The idea was to assemble 30.000 vehicles per year. And here starts the confusion. Some sources say that there was made a  first batch of 300 vehicles. The localisation rate was 40%, the cars were assembled from the second half of 2000.
But other Chinese sources say that there was no assembly at all.

For sure the 300.000 were never made. The reason was a quarrel between France and China, mostly certainly about Taiwan. France had warm relations with China since 1964, but also sold now and then weapons to Taiwan, like fighter planes, warships or submarines.  And that irritated the Chinese authorities, which lead to periods of troubled relationships. In 2000 the problem seems to have been the delivery of the observation satellite Rocksat 2 to Taiwan.

The first batch of 130 vehicles, either assembled or just imported, consisted of 60 1.6-litre dual-engine vehicles, all for taxi companies, 30 1.6-litre gasoline and 40 2.0-litre gasoline vehicles.
The import or SKD-assembly was done by the Beijing Automotive Industry Import Company, and the BAIC Zhongyun Automobile Trading Co. Ltd. sold the 60 dual-engine cars to taxi companies. For instance the Beijing Wanquan Temple Taxi Company had 9 of these.
The 90 gasoline engine cars were sold on auto trade markets. Beijing Lanling Electromechanical Co. Ltd. sold cars at the Beijing Northern Automobile Trade Market.
In 2000 another batch of 150 followed. That was all.

There was not any text on the rear that the car was possibly assembled in Beijing. Even worse, a car assembled in France and those possibly in China would have been exactly the same.

In those years, they were not very popular. They were really rare, you didn’t see them often.
The reason was that they were too expensive. As a result, a taxi trip in a Scenic had the same price as a trip in a much luxurious Shanghai-Volkswagen Santana 2000.
They are not in the statistics. They were not advertised.

Some of the Scenic’s seen in China are from the updated Phase 2 version. They were in France in production from late 1999, the Phase 1 version was made since 1996.

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