About the History of Cars in China
In November 1990, Geng Zhaojie (FAW) and Dr. Hahn (VW) signed a contract for a joint venture, producing 150.000 cars: the Volkswagen Golf A2 (hatchback) and Jetta A2 (sedan).
Continue reading “FAW-Volkswagen Golf A2, the car that never came.”
After leaving the factory the prototype of the Shanghai 58 was tested in September 1957 on the Lingyan Mountain in Suzhou.
Continue reading “A bit more about the Shanghai 58 Jeep prototype.”
In the 1950s and 1960s there was a strong relationship between Czecho-Slovakia and China. Skoda trucks, buses and cars, and Tatra trucks were exported to China to help the development of the country.
In 1954 Simca bought Ford France, the factory and her products. Ford produced since a couple of months a new Vedette and this car became the Simca Vedette. This car was very important for China, as it was the example for China’s officially first motor car, the Dongfeng CA71.
Just before the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966), Shanghai Auto started to work on a replacement for the SH760 Sedan. The prototypes were bigger than the SH760.
Long before the popularity of mpv’s, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation made prototypes of mpv’s.
In 2012 my friend Tycho wrote in Car News China about Bamin. Time for a make over.
Bamin started as a repair company of the People’s Liberation Army in 1950. In 1955 it moved to Xujia Village, Jingxi Town, Fujian Province. Since 1965 the company was named People’s Liberation Army Factory Number 7427.
When my friend Sam wrote about the Xingtai made Dacia, he told us that there was another factory that has made a Dacia pickup copy: the Shenyang Sanshan Company.
Continue reading “The Sanshan Company made the other Dacia.”
Writing for China Car History is sometimes dull, and sometimes exciting. This is such an exciting moment! My Chinese car friend Robert from Poland, who I know for 20 years, has sent me yesterday some pages of a Chinese language magazine called Auto News, edition late 2000. The writer describes the mini-auto’s made by the Qinghua University in 1958-1961. I have written about these cars in China Car History in December 2018.
Polarsun (Zhongshun) started with just a name change, continuing the production of the new Roger-designed minibus. This vehicle is based on the fourth generation of the Toyota HiAce. Polarsun is still using the SLQ denomination, the minibus is called Polarsun Century SLQ6503.
Continue reading “Shenyang Songliao and Polarsun. Part 2: Polarsun.”