About the History of Cars in China
In the late 2000’s China started to get serious about electric cars. Many Chinese automakers launched concept cars and small-series EVs for demonstration projects. One of these car makers was Brilliance Automotive. In 2009 they unveiled an attractive electric concept car, followed by a follow-up concept in 2011.
Continue reading “China Concept Cars: The 2009 & 2011 Brilliance EV Concept Cars”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Yanjing Auto, a brand owned by the Beijing Yanjing Auto Factory (北京燕京汽车厂). In the 1980’s and 1990’s the factory produced buses, minibuses, and SUVs under the Yanjing brand. Have a beer, get some chips, because this is a long read.
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Today in China Concept Cars the 2008 Geely GT, the 2009 Geely GT. and the 2010 Geely Emgrand GT Tiger. These were a line of interesting concept cars with a traditional sports car shape. When the GT came out nobody expected production, but when the Emgrand Tiger GT debuted two years later we weren’t so sure anymore. It looked much closer to production and Geely, after all, had given up the Meirenbao coupe in 2003.
Continue reading “China Concept Cars: The 2008 Geely GT And Its Successors”
Today in China Concept Cars the SouEast X1, an attractive sedan coupe unveiled on the Beijing Auto Show in 2008 where I saw it in all of its prettiness, standing on a rotating platform on the large SouEast booth.
Continue reading “China Concept Cars: SouEast X1 Was A Pretty Chinese Sedan Coupe”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Beijing Sanxing. This was a brand owned by a company called Beijing Sanxing Automobile Factory (北京三兴汽车厂). In the 1990’s they made a series of large SUVs.
This Sanxing should not be confused with the much better known Sanxing Auto (三星汽车) from Guangdong Province. The Sanxing characters differ. The Beijing company is 三兴 and the Guangdong company is 三星.
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Today in China Concept Cars the 2007 Dongfeng EQ7200HEV, an early Chinese hybrid electric vehicle based on a Nissan.
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Today in China Concept Cars the Haima H12, a concept of an electric sedan for the Chinese car market. The Haima H12 was unveiled in 2006 at the Guangzhou Auto Show. It was one of the first mass-market EV-concept cars in China. It was painted in white with fancy green ‘ Electric Vehicle’ stickers on the bonnet and doors.
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Kaite Auto, a brand owned by a company called Beijing Fengtai Auto Refit Factory, based in Fengtai District in the Chinese capital Beijing. In the 1990’s, Kaite Auto made a series of pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans.
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When China’s Nanjing Auto bought the name and assets of the MG brand in 2005, the deal included the MG TF roadster and the IP for the MG TF GT coupe. Nanjing Auto eventually produced a few thousand TF’s in China, but sadly the TF GT didn’t fare so well.
Continue reading “Nanjing Auto Applied For Patent For The MG TF GT Coupe”
Diesel engines in passenger cars have long been problematic in China. Many large Chinese cities, including the capital Beijing, ban diesel-powered passenger cars within the city limits because diesel is considered a dirty kind of fuel only suitable for trucks and buses.
Still, in the early 2000’s, several car makers launched diesels in China, pointing at the low fuel consumption and low greenhouse emissions. A well-known local diesel proponent was Hawtai, which developed its own 2.0 turbo diesel engines. From the foreign side there was really just one car maker that was serious about diesel, and that was, no surprise, Volkswagen. In 2002 the Germans launched a diesel-powered variant of their popular Jetta sedan, made by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture.
Continue reading “FAW-Volkswagen Jetta SDI Was A Rare Diesel-powered Sedan In China”