About the History of Cars in China
Challenged by the good sales of the Chinese Suzuki Alto license copies, Dongfeng (like FAW) wanted a small car of her own. Development and production started in the city of Baolan, not far from Shiyan in Hubei province.
In earlier stories, I have written about the coach builders of Shanghai.
With the article about the Frazar company in Tianjin, it was clear that there were car-body makers in other Chinese cities in the 1920s as well.
Here about the Fords made in Tianjin.
Continue reading “The 1920s Adventures of Ford In North China.”
This is the second part of my story about Tianma Auto, part of the Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™) series. Part 1 is right here. China’s car market started to boom in the early 2000s, with zillions of new car makers and models. Tianma’s lineup exploded, with dozens of pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans. Tianma also produced the usual Kia Sorento and Honda CR-V clones.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Tianma Auto – Part 2”
Let’s first tell you about the attempts to organize the Chinese automobile industry in the 1980s.
Continue reading “The Long and Winding Story of Guizhou Yunque Automobile”
After Mao died in 1976, Deng Xiaoping in 1978 announced the ‘opening up’ of China. The Western automobile industry quickly responded: all the big companies were trying to negotiate with China to get a part of the pie.
Continue reading “Technical and Industrial Exposition of Citroën Vehicles in Guangzhou, June 1980.”
At the end of the last, and at the beginning of this century, both FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai-Volkswagen were interested in producing the Volkswagen Transporter. In the end, it didn’t happen. This is how, and why.
Continue reading “Volkswagen Almost Produced The Transporter T4 In China.”
In this section I write about non identified Chinese cars and other questions.
Continue reading “Questions, questions, questions (4) About Unknown Chinese Cars”
Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Tianma Auto, a brand owned by the No. 9506 Factory of the People’s Liberation Army of China. The No. 9506 was an air force-owned vehicle-refit factory. It was one of many army-related companies that moved into the car market in the 1990s. To keep this article and my time in check, I have divided it into two parts: 1) until the 1990s and 2) the 2000s.
Continue reading “Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot: Tianma Auto – Part 1”
After the unveiling of the replica of the first Jinggangshan, there is even more to tell you now.
Let us go back to 1958.
Continue reading “More information about the first Jinggangshan from Beijing and its replicas.”
