Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Tanghua

Hello again dear reader, today I decided to write about quite a peculiar car brand – it has been more forgotten in china, than in the west – Tanghua (唐华). Over the span of almost 15 years, they made series of very strange concept cars, the most famous of them would be the trio featured at 2008 Detroit car show.

Oddly enough, its history starts 8 years before the establisement of the company. Mr. Li Guangming, showcased his first car “Xiaoya” (小雅) on the Beijing International Automobile Expo in June 1994.

It was a cutesy small red car with electric motor, something we would classify as a LSEV nowadays. That makes sense, with the name translation roughly meaning “Little Elegance”. Back then the car was just too ahead for its time, so nothing came out of it.

We got some specs for it: It’s outside dimensions were 2650mm × 1540mm× 1540mm (LxWxH), with 1680mm wheelbase. The car had a range of 120 kilometers, and would max out at 45 km/h.

Beijing Lishi Guangming Automobile Design Company, or Li Shi Guang Ming Automobile Design as it was later known, would be established in 2002, 8 years later after the premiere of the founder’s first car. it was established because Mr. Li was frustrated with the backwardness of the chinese car design, which didnt really move much closer to being cutting edge for all those years.

The first set of cars he would create under the newly founded company would be a trio of larger cars. They were featured on 8th Beijing International Auto Show in 2004.

There was yellow Feng (风), which was a sports coupe. The side looks quite alot like the Beauty Leopard from Geely. Anyways, it couldnt have been based on the BL, because overall dimensions look to be bigger in comparason. I am sure the car had no engine in it, it doesnt look like the hood or doors open, or that there is any interior.

Another car was orange Ya (雅), described as a mid size sedan. It reminds me a little bit of Shanghai Maple, but i am sure thats just my PTSD kicking in from writing that article.  It was another full scale model with no interior and no powertrain:

Last one was black Song (颂), it was the “executive” model. The front end, and much of the bodywork actually is reminiscent of the orange Ya:

But as you can see, the rear portion is definately different in design. Are those Audi A6 rear light units perhaps?

In any case, their design in turn made me think of the two unnamed creations of Binzhou Pride, based on Chery Eastar, which have used the A6 taillight units, and the overall body design is quite close.

I wonder if there was any cooperation, or plain old inspiration on the part of Pride. Or even a coincidence…

Feng and Ya would be forgotten by everybody (untill now!), and Tanghua would pursue more goofy car designs from that point on. Erik van Ingen Schenaul has caught all 3 cars on the show back in the day:

Next car was another version of the Xiaoya. This one seems to be a completly new car, not a modified original. It has been showcased at 8th China Beijing International Science and Technology Industry Expo in May of 2005. This isnt a car show, so the coverage of this car was quite scarce. I only had couple of bad pictures, but luckilly Erik has sent me a good picture of the front end:

This time the car stood alone at the Tanghua booth. It has a very odd door setup, with the B pillar being at an 45° angle. Overall, it seems quite crowded in there, i am not sure that even children would be able to enter it comfortably.

There were some specs reported – dimensions (LxWxH) 2,3 x 1,3 x 1,5 meters, top speed 50 km/h and range is 110 km after it being fully charged, with the estimated price being around 18 000 yuan.

Year later, again on the Science and Technology Industry Expo (instead of on the big Beijing show that took place the same year), Mr. Li introduced yet another version of Xiaoya.

It looks very close to the original car, but with reworked details, and a little smaller. The car did drop the nonsensical pair of rear doors, and featured a very simple, yet cute face. It was reported, that the car could be launched on october the same year, for the price inbetween 18 and 23 thousand yen, depending on the trim.

We do have some technical specs of this car – the power was generated by a 2.5 kW electric motor, which would give the car top speed of 45 km/h, or 65 km/h with the speed limiter removed. Acceleration from standstill to 40 km/h would take around 42 seconds, which feels excruciatingly slow. Its power would be stored in a lead-acid battery with the capacity of 120V. Apparently that was good for range of 260 kilometers, which seems honestly quite impressive for the car of its nature.

It’s outside dimensions were 2480mm × 1392mm× 1580mm (LxWxH), with 1500mm wheelbase. Curb weight stood at 700 kilos. Battery life was claimed to be 800 recharge cycles, and it would take somewhere inbetween 5 to 7 hours  to charge it from a regular 220v outlet. Something which is unusual for an EV car is, the car featured a gearbox with two forward speeds and a reverse.

Tanghua wasnt done yet though. In the september of 2006, they not only showcased another car design, but they have done so internationally, at the Paris car show no less. This is where the aspect of “westerners” being aware of these cars comes into play, because the goofy shoe-shaped yellow car really stood out, and media did report it’s appearance, although mostly mockingly.

The car was named Xiaoyaou (小雅欧) – the extra character there meaning Europe. We got some specs, but compared to the “beijing 06” version, only the dimensions changed: 2780mm × 1440mm× 1520mm (LxWxH), with the wheelbase standing at 1800mm. Estimated launch price was at 25 000 yuans.

And now, comes the part which i think was the reason people learned about/remembered these goofballs the most (including me!) – 2008 Detroit motor show, held in january, showcased 3(!) different cars this time. I remember it being featured in a car mag i was buying on regular basis back then. The cars got english names this time, and they were all very odd.

First off, we do have Book of Songs (诗经). It is much like the Xiaoyaou, but slightly modified. Grille looks more refined, and the logo no longer protrudes to the hood area. Dashboard also appears to be different in shape:

The rear lights on the Paris 2006 model looked kinda old fashioned, so this time they were changed for round units, and the car appears to have gotten a small trunklid aswell. But even with the more refined and “production ready” looks, the car still looks absolutely bonkers (yet was the most sensible car at the booth that year).

It got ever so slightly larger: 2820 mm × 1440 mm× 1580 mm (LxWxH), with the wheelbase now being 1860 mm. It was powered by a 3.5 kW electrical motor, which propelled the car to 45 km/h. Range was 160 km, but i do not know for which battery version was that, as there were two advertised. Lead Acid version of the car was claimed to be sold for 5200 USD, while the lithium battery version would be avaliable for 8500 USD.

Next up, we have the bizzare “A Piece of Cloud” (我是一片云)

This one is a totally open car, with no doors, trunk lid and not even any seatbelts from the looks of things. We do get a better peek at the new dashboard design. The inclusion of floor carpeting and fluffy seats seems strange, I can imagine after few years and rainshowers the car smelling like a damp dog.

The market this car was aiming for was university campuses, hotels and those sorts of things, so the probability of colliding with a normal car would have been thankfully very low. Compared to the last iteration of the Xiaoya, it was shorter and wider – 2080 mm x 1530 mm, height remained the same. Wheelbase stood at only 1360 mm. For this one we got some more performance statistics, its top speed was limited to only 18 km/h, with the power output being 3.5 kW and 16 Nm (being able to be shortly bumped up to 32 Nm). Again, we got a choice of two batteries, the price now ranging from 3800 USD to 7200 USD.

Last but not least, there was the Detroit Fish (底特律鱼). The reason why I think this one is the oddest? Well, not only does it look like a 4 door (wait, thats not right), ehm 4 seat version of the A Piece of Cloud, but it is also somehow an amphibious vehicle ! Who would have thought that “Fish” would be the most logical part of any of the Tanghuas’ names.

Yes, it is rather bizzare. This amphibian doesnt have any doors, instead it has 5 massive holes in the body. Grant it, the sides are a bit higher, but i wouldnt trust it in anything but calm waters… There was no test of its abilities to my knowledge. But Mr. Li’s designs were always quite unique, and he enjoyed the publicity. If I recall correctly, his face was on the steering wheel aswell.

Yet again, we do have some specs. The car sat at 2980 mm long, 1800 mm wide, 168 mm high with 2260 mm wheelbase.  It was powered by the same electric motor as the other two cars, and had a range of apparently 150 kilometers on land. Yet again, two versions were on offer, the lead acid batteries would have been priced at 5800 USD, and the lithium battery version was estimated to be sold at 9200 USD.

The final appearance of a Tanghua car came in Paris in october 2008. It has come the full circle – the car there was named XY08, XY standing for Xiaoya. Yes, the car appeared to be the original 1994 vehicle, but modernised and with a fresh coat of paint.

It was featured on a booth of french importer “China Automobile”. Oddly enough, they have refered to the car as Chika in promotional materials. The car got a more powerful 4kW engine,  it got a little higher compared to the red original (1540 mm), and got slightly longer wheelbase (1710 mm).

The car pictured on the brochure had black seats, darker color, and steel wheels. They spruced it up nicely for the show.

Promised release date was 2010, but that never happened. This was the last we ever heard of the company. Thank you very much for reading, and i do hope you enjoyed it and perhaps learned something new. If you have any corrections, or futher informations, dont hesitate to let me know in the comments. I would also like to thank Erik van Ingen Schenau, who has provided me with alot of pictures and brochures i didnt see beforehand.

P.S: Before I finish this article, I will post couple of unnamed cars, that I wasnt able to put into a timeline due to lack of informations. They could have been either real creations, or just designs that never left the drawing board. They werent showcased anywhere, and i think its for the better, while most of the Tanghua might have been ugly, but in their own charming way, these were just plain old ugly:

This green car had advertised range of only 100 kilometers, and had dimensions of 2380 mm × 1180 mm× 1530 mm (LxWxH), with wheelbase of 1330 mm. It had two seats inside, but the people would have to be quite small to fit in reckon, with such narrow body. Top speed was 45 km/h

Another model in the typical “Tanghua Yellow” color, and it was the smallest of the bunch. Outside dimensions were 2005 mm × 1120 mm× 1460 mm (LxWxH), but the wheelbase was slightly longer: 1350 mm. Claimed top speed was only 20 km/h, the range was the same. This time it was only for one person.

Last model is the one i have most doubts about it ever existing, feels very much like just a computer 3D model, with the background clipping trough… But alas, to give you the complete picture, i am going to show it aswell. Exterior dimensions: 3620 mm x 1620 mm x 1510 mm, wheelbase 1930 mm. Top speed was claimed to be blistering 80 km/h, with range of just 160 km.