
This article gives an overview of the more unknown products developed in the period 1958-1961. Styling was strongly influenced by contemporary American styling. Continue reading “Development of cars during the Great Leap Forward.”
About the History of Cars in China

This article gives an overview of the more unknown products developed in the period 1958-1961. Styling was strongly influenced by contemporary American styling. Continue reading “Development of cars during the Great Leap Forward.”

This the first part of the Story of Sanxing, about an almost forgotten company that made a crazy selection of cars, including the Dodge Caravan, the Mitsubishi Pajero, the Mercedes-Benz MB100, and a range of Daihatsu-based trucks.
Sanxing Auto was based in the great city of Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province. They were the Big Thing for a while, visited by big wits from China and abroad. But then it all went wrong due to politics and rivalries between Guangdong and Beijing. Their cars are virtually unknown today, descending into anonymity. This series of articles will bring them back.
Continue reading “The Story Of Sanxing Part 1: History & Background”
Li Shufu’s first car was not a Daihatsu Charade copy but a Mercedes-Benz!
Read here how mr. Li started with taking photos of tourists with a Seagull camera to end up as the owner of five car manufacturers.

Continue reading “Li Shufu, mr. Geely, and the first car he made; a Mercedes Benz!”

This is not a Chevrolet Lumina. This is a Nushen JB6500. And it has a Chrysler engine under the bonnet.
Continue reading “The Nushen JB6500 Is A Chinese Chevrolet Lumina APV Copy With A Chrysler Engine”

Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Chengdu Shanlu, a brand so unknown that most of my period catalogs don’t even mention it. The brand made a series of wagons and pickup trucks in the early 1990’s. Car on the first picture is a Shanlu CJY 6420B.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Chengdu Shanlu”

Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Zhengtian, a fascinating brand that made a series of station wagons and pickup trucks in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Shijiazhuang Automobile Works – Zhengtian”

There are some things that we just never expect to say or hear. Although there were rumours a few years ago the next generation Holden Commodore would be produced in China, that never came to fruition, it would not have been the first time a Commodore was made in the People’s Republic. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the BJ6490. Did I mention there was also an electric version? AND a hybrid version? Read on!
Continue reading “The BJ6490 – A Chinese made Holden Commodore”

A Hongqi CA7202 A9E3L2 Century Star parade car, painted in a beautiful shade of red. The parade car is based on the Hongqi CA7202 Century Star sedan, which in turn was based on the C3 Audi 100.
Continue reading “All The Audi 100-based Hongqi Parade Cars From China”
This is the rear of car which looks like a Toyota Crown S130 but which is in fact a Great Wall CC1020s!

Continue reading “About the cars made by Great Wall: a history before their official history.”

In 1980 the Englishman Oliver Barnham travelled through China and took pictures of every local made vehicle he could find. He took pictures of a BJ212-style jeep in Chonqging and Shanghai.
Both cars had military plates.