About the History of Cars in China
After their life times efforts to make cars for the leaders, mr. Hua Fulin and two other FAW senior researchers and engineers decided to develop a real “people’s car”. The project was named “Sankoule”(literally “Three Mouths”) the name revers to the then standard Chinese family with two parents and one child.
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Hainan Haisheng Auto, a brand based in the great city of Haikou in sunny Hainan province. They used the English brand name Hiseng, without the ‘H’. From the late 1990’s to the mid 2000’s they made a series of pickup trucks, legally-licensed Mitsubishi Pajero’s, semi-legal Suzuki Vitara’s, and much more.
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Today in China Concept Cars the Geely Chengbao. It was unveiled on the 2005 Shanghai Auto Show and it was inspired by classic sportscars. The name ‘Chengbao’ means castle in Chinese. Continue reading “China Concept Cars: Geely Chengbao”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Dadi Auto, a somewhat crazy brand that made a series of station wagons and sedan in the early 1990’s and a series of SUVs and pickup trucks in the late 1990’s and 2000’s.
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Today in China Concept Cars the Patac Qilin, an attractive compact passenger car that debuted on the June 1999 Shanghai Auto Show
The Qilin was an interesting vehicle, a five-door hatchback with a slightly higher ground clearance than normal. Gray panels made it look a lot like the later ‘cross’ vehicles, which became very popular in China in the early 00’s. So Patac was far ahead of time! Continue reading “China Concept Cars: The 1999 Patac Qilin”
This sporty beauty is the Hafei Saibao, a very cool Chinese concept car. The Saibao, meaning Leopard, debuted on the 2003 Shanghai Auto Show. It was designed by Pininfarina and partially based on the Lotus Elise.
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Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Heibao. This was a brand owned by a company called Shandong Heibao, based in the great city of Weihai in Shandong Province.
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Today in CBTTF: Shuguang Auto, a brand under the Shuguang Group. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s Shuguang Auto made a series of fairly typical five-door SUVs, but they also made one far more special 3-door variant.
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In the great year of 2003 BYD bought Qinchuan Auto, which got them a car-making license and the BYD Flyer, a popular mini car. BYD saw all kinds of possibilities with the Flyer platform. On the 2004 Beijing Auto Show BYD unveiled four concepts of new Flyer variants, designed and built in less than a year. No small feat for a then brand new auto maker!
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In the late 1990’s the Beijing-Jeep joint venture wanted a sedan to compete with the Audi 100. They choose the Chrysler LeBaron, and it came very close to production. But in the end, it just didn’t happen.
Continue reading “Beijing-Jeep Almost Made The Third-generation Chrysler LeBaron”