Recently I bought from a Changchun bookseller a bunch of 47 photos of prototypes made in the 1990’s by the First Auto Works Automobile Research Institute (FARI). The majority of the photos show trucks.
The Changchun Automobile Reseach Institute was established in 1950. Originally it worked mostly for FAW (First Auto Works in Changchun), but also designed for other companies, factories in Beijing, Tianjin or Guangzhou etc.
Since 1978 CARI worked only for FAW and in 1980 it became the FAW Automobile Research Institute (FARI).
So the other part of the photo collection shows car prototypes. Some already known, some new to me and to you. I’ll show you here a selection of them.
Is there anyone who can identify these two vehicles?
Other photos show the FAW 2.2 Jetta, as described before.
In the same years, the Daihatsu Charade (2) hatchback and the Daihatsu Skywing liftback were popular as example for Chinese copies.
My next article will show more of these ‘Daihatsu inspired’ Chinese products. Here the ones made by FARI.
Yes, you are right, we showed already earlier another photo of this prototype with a different registration, photo taken at the same place (airfield?).
Here another copy with a different front end.
For me, questions are not answered. Were these cars only ‘finger exercises’ or were these serious attempts to develop new FAW cars. Why were they not taken into production?
When you know more, please give your comments!
I think the crew cab pickup is a modified Hongqi CA1021U3 with extra ground clearance and added airdam, I cant think of a source for the possible 4 wheel drive though… FAW didnt really build any 4x4s at that time i think, nor did they build one for quite a while? The only 4×4 i can really think of is the CA6470W, which would explain the higher ground clearance, but i think that came about much later… Another possible solution would be they somehow obtained the technology from Audi, given that the car itself is a modified Audi 100. In… Read more »
The Audi 100 looks like a body on frame design (6 lug wheels!) So the chassis is maybe something of Japanese origin, since they had many 6×139 body on frame cars. Also they used the long rear doors without the arch cut-out suggesting the donor wheelbase is much longer than the audi.
The MPV…looks like a mish mash of a buick lacrosse, vw polo and honda stream. But all of these came much later.
the reasoning for the donor frame sounds reasonable, but i’m curious about whats sticking out under the car at the rear wheel, maybe it’s some sort of suspension component based on its location? Probably not though. the wheels look kinda similar to 1st gen mitsubishi l200 steel wheels but afaik china never got that so idk
Here two pictures of the Hongqi 4×2 pickup.
Hongqi CA1021U3 (1201 is wrong…)
it’s interesting they did a 2nd generation charade in the 90s considering tianjin would have already been making the 3rd generation charade by then. still pretty cool proof that the 2nd gen charade was indeed in china even though it isnt the CKD stuff from before tianjin started assembling the 3rd gen.
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