Thanks to our reader 3Star4WD and my dear friend Tycho I can tell you more about the five-seater small mpv Hyundai Matrix (not) made by Hawtai (Huatai).
In 2007 the Hyundai Matrix production in South Korea suspended. The Matrix (also named Lavita) was in production since 2001. The first update of the car was in 2005. Production in Turkey ended later, in 2010.
The Matrix was designed under the umbrella of Pininfarina, by Lorenzo Ramaciotti.
The Hyundai Matrix was imported in China and sold rather well.
Hawtai in Rongcheng, Shandong province, positioned itself till that time as an off-road vehicle manufacturer. Thanks to an intensive cooperation with Hyundai, Hawtai produced the Hyundai Terracan and Santa Fe.
Hawtai urgently needed to launch a small-displacement family economical passenger car.
The plans were to assemble the Hyundai Matrix first, later 100% Chinese production would take place. Estimated price 100.000 yuan, choices between two engines: 1.6L or 1.8L.
Hawtai started to register the Matrix with the MIIT in two versions:
SDH7150M-D with a home-made 1493 cc HT383ZLQ-HM 3-cylinder diesel engine and the SDH7160M with a 1590cc 4A92 4-cylinder petrol engine.
The cars wear the Hawtai logo of that time.
Year after year we waited, but the Matrix didn’t come to China. It seems that the Matrix production facilities were exported to Turkey and not to China, a simple change of plans…
The Matrix was made in Turkey for another 3 years, till 2010.
What you see at the photos of four cars are probably test cars. Sometimes, when you visit a factory, old test cars are just standing at the factory premises. But it is also possible that they are dropped somewhere else. The cars have the designation 1.5 on the rear, that can be the 1493cc diesel engine, but also the 1495cc Korean petrol engine.