Two times before, in 2018 and 2020, I showed you pictures of vehicles of which we wanted more information. Here are some new ‘questions’ about unknown Chinese cars. In 2018 I wrote: “But each answer leads to a new question. ” That is the fate of the researcher…
Great Wall ‘Xiali’
Let us start with a recent ‘question’. A reader who calls himself “Marshall_Isl” (the Marshall Islands are in the Pacific Ocean. Our reader must have a connection with them), has written a comment on my article about the Great Wall sedans of the 1990’s.
Yes, I like these comments, and again, many thanks, Marshall_Isl.
He sent a photo of a Tianjin-Dafa Xiali look-alike. The license plate shows the name of the company in Chinese: Baoding Great Wall.
The photo is part of a collection of 18 black-and-white photos offered at the second-hand book site Kongfz. Place and date are not given, but they are taken at a motor show, probably in Beijing in 1994 or Shanghai in 1995. We have never seen this car. Question: who knows more?? My friend Robert says that the color of the car is red and that he remembers that the photo showed up in a Chinese-language book.
Geely convertible
The second ‘question’ is a Geely convertible, made long before Geely made coupes and convertibles about which my colleague Tycho writes so beautifully. This car was parked in the main reception hall of Geely headquarters at the beginning of this century. Was it a concept, a pre-study, a one-off for fun? It was never produced.
Yema B11 ‘BMW i3’
Yema B11, 2016. Photo MITT. LxWxH 4163x 1720x 1630mm, wheelbase 2515mm. Engine petrol 1.0 litre 50kW, electric 30 kW.
Next is another surprise: the Yema B11. Chinese car makers need to send basic information about their cars to the MITT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) and MIIT regularly publishes the details of the road-approved vehicles. In 2016, Yema sent for approval for a hybrid vehicle called B11. A lot of you will remember BMW’s first steps into the electric car world: the BMW i3.
The main difference between the Yema and the BMW were the doors: BMW hided the rear doors, Yema showed them. About the rest, at least there were a lot of ‘styling coincidences’. The question is: what happened to the Yema B11. Only a prototype? Or some production? Who knows more?
Hawtai Matrix
Hawtai Matrix 2008, photo MITT.
Another car sent to the MITT was the Hawtai Matrix. Hawtai (Huatai) cooperated with Hyundai and produced the Galloper, Santa Fe, and Terracan for the Chinese market, and it planned to produce the Matrix (Lavita). The Matrix had been approved by MIIT, and then… nothing. Well, there is a note that the production was planned:
Hawtai production planning 2008. Matrix fourth from the right.
Tycho wrote already in 2010, production? An announcement with a question mark. Well, we have never seen a Hawtai Matrix, never in the streets nor at a show. The question is: was the Hawtai sent to MIIT really a Hawtai? Or was it just a matter of changing the badges, and was it an original Hyundai?
Unknown minicar
Unknown, photo Erik van Ingen Schenau, Liuzhou Taxi- Guangxi Region 1994.
In the endless series of 1990 minicars, most of them are identified. But here is one which is unknown to me. It was a small sedan that I saw in 1994 in Liuzhou.
Unknown minicar 2
Another taxi, seen in 1994 in Guangdong Province.
Do you recognize these cars? Please let us know!
Okay, regarding my nickname… it does mean “Marshall Islands”, but that was just a nickname I came up with by chance four years ago, And I am still using this nickname on some websites and apps now，lol.I actually live in Sichuan.
The Geely concept car is very interesting, I have not ran into that one before. I only ran into a 2002 Merrie 300, which is a precursor to the Freedom Cruiser, but with very odd proportions at the back, and 2001 Merrie, which is a precursor to the Mereinbao, but with a different front bumper and totally different back end. I have to say, i do quite like this tiny cabrio! I tried a while back to contact the chinese authorities about the 冀H 70371 that was posted in an older article. This system of licence plates is still valid,… Read more »
I inserted the read more tag, thanks for telling me, JFK.
the mystery cr looks like the original xiali tj7100
Derek, I wrote: He sent a photo of a Tianjin-Dafa Xiali look-alike
yema B11 never entered production, but was approved for the homogolation/MIT approval.
Derek, I wrote: In 2016, Yema sent for approval for a hybrid vehicle called B11.
another great wall SUV, but I have no knowledge of this car.
another one:
Isnt this red one just the Pegasus?
That’s the Changfeng DUV, not a Great Wall…
…..
changfeng liebao cs7, I actually didn’t know this version existed
CS6 and CS7 are both mass-produced and sold also…and,it seems that you sent the wrong image. this is CS6.
Hawtai Matrix not a Hyundai，They just copied Hyundai like other Chinese car companies at the time.Here is a photo of the rear of the car.
They didn’t copy Hyundai products, they worked together with Hyundai.
The technical parameters of this car are listed in the table below. It’s interesting that this car offers Hawtai’s self-developed diesel engine – but I think even if this car is truly mass-produced, no Chinese would buy a diesel version of this car.Yes, this car is not in mass production，I guess only a few prototype cars have been manufactured.
Regarding the taxi in Liuzhou, I found a hatchback called Disai（迪赛） LJ5010XA.I think there are some similarities between the front parts of the two cars…If the part behind the C-pillar of the car is removed and viewed as a saloon, perhaps it is more similar to the vehicle in that picture? Perhaps this car is the hatchback version of that car?
Moreover, this car was manufactured by Liuzhou Machinery Factory. At that time, many car manufacturers only sell their cars to their own provinces, with only a small portion sold to other provinces…
Hello Mr. Marshall, you must have missed the Disai of which I have written here: https://chinacarhistory.com/2023/06/14/the-chinese-daihatsu-charade-2nd-generation-and-look-alikes/.
And I don’t agree, when you look in detail, there is no resemblance between these two cars.
well,indeed.
Marshall, do you think it would be feaseable for you to ask at the local chinese DMV in person? I feel like thats the best shot we have. You know, ask them to run those plates trough their database. We saw how messy the Changjian sedans were…
Sorry, I can’t…Because ordinary people cannot access this information, only the staff inside can access it…
really?! the brouchure says: lj5010xa mini van
Yes the text under the Disai photo says LJ5010XA, correct.
Derek, what I say is that the Disai is another car and doesn’t resemble the vehicle with registration Gui B 01451.
Some Hawtai Matrix, seems like abandoned prototypes.
Interesting, the official name was Hawtai B5, if i am seeing the badge right. I dont think that was reported anywhere.
B5 is very well possible within the Hawtai system, with the bigger saloons B11 and B21.
Great, Three Star Four Wheel Drive! Really to see these test cars, one photo with three! So it was more than sending a single Matrix to the MIIT.
note that there is another hawtai matrix, which means there are 3 matrix, the 2 with black bumpers and one with none
Even more, Derek. On the parking place, against the wall (factory wall??) you can see: first car, hood open; second car, no logo; third car parked the other way around; fourth car you can see at the photo of the fourth car parked the other way around; fifth car is a Volkswagen. So that makes already four.
Then, the white car at the MIIT photos (without bumperstrips) and the car on the spy photo. And I am certain there were more.
nice find！
3STAR-4WD, where were these photos taken. Near the Hawtai factory in Rongcheng city, Shandong province?
shenyang jinbei made their first hiace back in the 80s
this is the jinbei shenyang sy623 made from 1985-1988.
I was watching a movie and came across this:
any idea on what it could be?
Maybe a Jianhua, it looks similar to some other cars they did. No car from my article exactly matches it though.
EDIT: I have added it to the Jianhua article
the mystery taxis could be beifang taxis because their headlights are the same and they look similar somehow
Which Beifang, Derek?
the company you mentioned some time ago about the taxis
Could the 2nd unknown taxi be a Whale/Wei’er? While it isn’t a 100% match, the overall shape looks extremely alike.
I believe the last two red taxi cars are also “Xiali”, it is modified base on the 3 generation of Tianjin-Dafa (Daihatsu) Charade CX in 1990. Many people in China believe that a proper car should have a boot at the end, because of the first impression of VW Santana and Peugeot 505, so Tianjin add a boot for it. You can see the car in this picture, they have the same taillights.
My bad, the 3rd generation has a sedan version, it’s not “especially” made for Chinese market, but maybe did a little bit change. That taxi picture before in the link is a later mid-term version(maybe facelift in 1997), picture down below might be more close.
Rod, I hate to break it to you, but the doors, fenders do not line up at all on either of the cars with Xiali. There has been many local producers at the time which reused various bits and bobs from the big car manufacturers. I am sure if it was a Xiali, Erik wouldnt need to ask here, because he would already recognise it. Only the lights are from it.
Thanks for the correct answer, JFK.
Do you see the similarity between the Kj6380 sedan and the unknown taxi from 1994 in Guangdong? or is it my feeling…
Yes, Autovia, I see similarity. But not 100% the same. Without any other proof we can’t say they are from the same manufacturer.
The Yema B11 is another example of cheating national and provincial subsidies (just like my Jiuma comments one year ago), with Sichuan Province and also national government paying subsidies to every plug-in hybrid or battery powered vehicle produced. This scheme failed however when they discovered that the subsidies are paid by every car sold, not produced, and Yema as a brand stopped production in 2018, until its production license been picked up by a Shandong low-speed “car” factory. If the leaders of Yema would have a smarter brain (like some other producers) they would dump-export some cars (or even mock… Read more »
Regarding the Geely convertible… https://auto.sina.com.cn/news/2006-10-17/1028222447.shtml Here’s an article from 2006 stating it’s just another Beauty Leopard, but I’m not sure since the author is not of auto industry and can mess up, also the wheels size are more like Charades. Anyway the hood’s shape shown there is not matching the one in the article, so I assume it’s not an one-off but definitely not mass produced. Anyways, to think about how Xi’s wife being related to Li Shufu’s wife, how Xi was the President of Zhejiang at the moment, and how the Taizhou mayor mentioned in that article is now… Read more »
My good friend found a rear picture of the Geely cabrio. I have no idea how she did it… For me the car looks the same as the one posted by Erik, just with a newer badge. It does not seem to have any name at all, it just says Geely at the back… Note the Audi A6 taillights.
About Hyundai Matrix, the Huatai one is definitely one real Hyundai. It’s a long story after the “2 joint venture per every foreign company” policy, and there was 3 companies in competition about the domestic production of Santa Fe. In the end Hyundai chose Beijing Motors to produce Tucson, in sight of restraining Daimler Chrlysler’s expansion in China (which didn’t really happen after all, but Daimler did went to Foton at that time), Santa Fe wasn’t produced but JAC picked some technologies from that car, and Huatai was given up. But Matrix certainly was in the sight of Yantai government… Read more »