About the History of Cars in China
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”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Jinma Auto / Soar, famous for their gigantic Rolls-Royce ‘wedding cars’. But there was more, much more!
Jinma (金马) means Golden Horse. The brand was owned by a company called Qingdao Shengma Classic Car Co., Ltd. (青岛圣马老爷车有限公司). The designation was QJM. In 2001, the company changed its name to Qingdao Suo’er Automobile Co., Ltd. (青岛索尔汽车有限公司). This was abbreviated to Soar Automobile (索尔汽车), and that is the name they are best known for. That same year, the Jinma brand name was replaced with the Soar name.
Today in China Concept Cars the Guangzhou Auto Corporation (GAC) 4-Door Coupé and Cabrio-Coupé. The two cars were closely related in design and GAC called them “sister cars”.
The 4-Door Coupé debuted on the 2007 Guangzhou Auto Show and the Cabrio-Coupé on the 2008 Beijing Auto Show. On the 2009 Guangzhou Auto Show, GAC unveiled a new variant of the Cabrio-Coupé.
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Last month I posted a post on the cars of Hangtian Auto. Like many of automakers at the time, the company was also involved in the misty business of the Crazy Car Production Days of Guangdong (CCPDoG™).
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Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Hangtian Auto. This brand was owned and manufactured by two closely related companies: Guizhou Hangtian and Zhongguo Jiangnan Hangtian. Both companies were based in Guizhou Province and their core business was military aerospace, including spacecrafts, airplanes and missiles.
Hangtian Auto (航天汽车) literally means ‘Aerospace Auto’. The brand was founded in 1984 and existed until about 2005. During that time, Hangtian Auto made a series of vans, small trucks, and minibuses.
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