About the History of Cars in China
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.
This is the strange story of the assembly of Mercedes-Benz trucks in China, stimulated by the German Nazi regime when China was already at war with Japan.
Continue reading “Mercedes-Benz Trucks Made In China In The 1930s”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Hainan Automobile Works.
Hainan Automobile Works (henceforth referred to as HAW) was founded in 1989 as a result of cooperation between the Hainan government and already established Hainan Auto Stamping Factory (henceforth referred to as HASF). HASF had experience with producing automobile components but the new company (HAW) would need a full assembly line on which to produce vehicles. Help came from an unlikely source – former President of The Philippines Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos sold HASF a factory that was once operated by Ford between 1968 and 1984. It was in 1988, 4 years after Ford ceased manufacturing operations in The Philippines that Marcos sold HASF the factory, allowing them to obtain a production line for their own future vehicle manufacturing. In 1989, Hainan Auto Stamping Factory was renamed Hainan Automobile Works.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Hainan Automobile Works and Hainan Mazda”
Geely wants a part of Daimler. After a public rejection in November the Chinese company is now buying Daimler stock on the open market. The Germans better watch out because Geely founder Li Shufu wants Daimler really bad, especially the Mercedes-Benz brand.
How bad is really bad? Very bad. As my colleague Erik explained earlier on in his brilliant article about Geely’s early history it has always been Li’s dream to build a “Chinese Benz”. Geely’s very first car was in fact a Mercedes-Benz lookalike. And we now have more information about this car.
Continue reading “The First Geely Was A Fake Mercedes-Benz E-Class Based On A Real Audi 100”