Welcome to ChinaCarHistory.com. This website shines a light on the history of cars in China, covering everything from tricycles to dump trucks to sedans and super cars.
We focus on China-made vehicles but there are also many interesting stories to tell about imported cars, especially from the early days, so these will be discussed as well.
Our timeline starts in 1925, when the very first vehicles were assembled in China, and ends in 2009, when China became the largest vehicle market in the world.
We are:
Tycho de Feijter. Founder of CarNewsChina.com, a site with its own history section. Tycho has a deep understanding of, and an even deeper love for, the Chinese auto industry. Obsessive researcher and a tireless writer. Tycho lives and works in Beijing.
Reach out via LinkedIn.
Erik van Ingen Schenau. The most famous of all Chinese car historians. Founder of the China Motor Vehicle Documentation Center and writer of various books about the history of Chinese cars. Erik traveled intensively throughout China in the 1980’s and 1990’s, documenting every car he saw. Erik lives and works in France.
Reach out via LinkedIn.
Sam Faulkner. Founder of the ChinaCarSpotting Facebook page and known as 付山97 on Weibo. A truly fanatic car spotter and finder, very knowledgeable about otherwise unknown Chinese cars. An extensive understanding of technical matters and fluent in Chinese. Sam recently moved back to Brisbane after spending 20 years in China.
Reach out via LinkedIn.
Navigator84. A famous Frenchman who has traveled a million miles in China, always on the lookout for that ultimate unknown pickup truck or early Great Wall sedan. Navigator84 supports this website with an endless supply of photos and information on obscure brands and places. He runs brilliant pages on Instagram and on Flickr.