In the 1950s and 1960s there was a strong relationship between Czecho-Slovakia and China. Skoda trucks, buses and cars, and Tatra trucks were exported to China to help the development of the country.
Skoda assembly in Hebei province.
The Simca Vedette and China.
In 1954 Simca bought Ford France, the factory and her products. Ford produced since a couple of months a new Vedette and this car became the Simca Vedette. This car was very important for China, as it was the example for China’s officially first motor car, the Dongfeng CA71.
Replacement of the Shanghai Saloon.
Just before the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966), Shanghai Auto started to work on a replacement for the SH760 Sedan. The prototypes were bigger than the SH760.
Crashed Export Dreams: The History of the Landwind X6 and X9
Landwind has always been a minor Chinese car brand, yet it is also a brand that quite some car enthusiasts will have heard of. Outside China, the Landwind X7, a copy of the Range Rover Evoque, received widespread media coverage across the world. However, one decade in advance an older SUV made headlines in Europe for being one of the first Chinese carmakers to enter the European market, and for a disastrous result in a slightly fishy crash test by European national consumer motoring associations. This article will cover the eventful history of the debut model by Landwind: the X9/X6-series.
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MPV’s made in Shanghai long ago.
Long before the popularity of mpv’s, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation made prototypes of mpv’s.
FAW-Volkswagen Jetta SDI Was A Rare Diesel-powered Sedan In China
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.
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Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: The Brilliant Wedding Cars And Other Oddities Of Jinma Auto & Soar Auto
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.
China Concept Cars: Guangzhou 4-Door Coupé And Cabrio-Coupé
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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Crazy Car Production Days of Guangdong: Hangtian Auto
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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Bamin redone.
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.
