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Meeting mr. Yin Tongyao.

In the early years of the 21st century Chery is a rapidly growing company. Chery shows SUV, MPV, sedan, van, so many concepts of different models. Including a larger sedan, via Italy a picture comes to China and arrives at my desk. It is the Chery F11 concept, a slim car design done by Pininfarina.

Chery F11 concept by Pininfarina .

The photo has been taken at the roof of the Pininfarina design studios, and somehow it escaped the secrecy. The car has a fancy German license plate and an unknown logo.  There is nothing known about engine, details etc. I don’t even know if it has an engine, or that you can ride it.

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Four attempts to make a Hongqi family car.

At least four projects were undertaken by FAW (First Auto Works) to develop a small family car. Well, to be exactly it was either FAW itself or the Changchun Research Institute, which functioned as the research and development department of FAW.

Hongqi CA7080, the smallest Hongqi ever. The old factory in the background.

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The Shanghai Horse Bazaar and Motor Company Limited

In the early years of the twentieth century there were a lot of factories that made car chassis and engines. These chassis and engines were exported to other countries where local bodybuilders assembled and finished these automobiles.

Logo of the Shanghai Horse Bazaar & Motor Co. LTD. (Longfei).

The International Concession in Shanghai city was an important place where several body builders were settled.

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The first products of the Tianjin Auto Repair Works.

We know the Tianjin Auto Repair Works from the Heping saloons made in 1958. People name this factory as developing the first Chinese car. For two reasons, the 1946 Feiying closed three wheel vehicle and the 1951 station wagon.

Tianjin ‘woody’ 1951, beautiful drawing (and copyright) by Ivan Kolev.

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The lost Beijing and Tianjin limousines of China.

This picture shows four Hongqi CA72, three Beijing CB4 and two Tianjin Heping 2-type, together on Tian’anmen square in Beijing in 1959 or 1960. It is a very interesting gathering of the three candidates for manufacturing state-limousines for the People’s Republic of China. The chances are already clear taking into account the number of cars present: 4 Hongqi, 3 Beijing and 2 Tianjin.
Yes, it was Hongqi that won. And Beijing and Tianjin were the losers. Recently new photos have been found of the limousines from Beijing , which we will present here.
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The story of Thunder Sky (Part 1)

Thunder Sky is a major player in the development and production of LiYePO4 Rare Earth Lithium Ion batteries. Thunder Sky started experimenting with electric vehicles around the turn of the last century by converting existing petrol powered cars to electric power. This included, as you shall discover from this article, everything from the humble Geo Metro to über collectible Hongqis. Join me as I take you on a journey to discover one of the most ambitious, ingenious and downright insane (in a good way) companies we will ever discuss here on the pages of China Car History. A journey so long it has to be split across two articles. The first shall cover all their vehicles prior to 2007 and the second everything after. Please note that right up until the day of publishing we were uncovering more and more vehicles produced by Thunder Sky and likely may find more in the future so these articles will more than likely be updated.

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