Earlier on, I posted about the Chery Cowin 2, the latest variant of the Seat Toledo-based Chery. Today, we have a much rarer version of the ‘Chery Seat’: the Chery Fengyun SQR7160 with a still mysterious badge on the back.
Let’s go to the back right now! Lots of badges there, which was common at the time. The coolest one first:
This badge reads 上汽奇瑞, Shangqi Qirui. Shangqi is short for Shanghai Qiche, and that translates to Shanghai Auto, and that is short for Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (SAIC). Qirui translates to Chery. This badge refers to the short period (2001-2003) that Chery was part of SAIC. In the late 1990’s when Chery was founded they did not have their own production license. To fix that they arrange a legally questionable operation where SAIC bought a share in Chery, and that allowed Chery to use SAIC’s production license. The operation was supported by the local governments but SAIC itself was an unhappy partner and felt it was forces into the deal. As soon as Chery got its own license in 2003, SAIC sold its share back to Chery.
The full designation of this type Fengyun. The SQR7160 was powered by a 1.6 liter four-cylinder petrol engine, good for 83 hp and 128 Nm. Top speed was 168 km/h, 0-100 was gone in 13.5 seconds, and fuel consumption was 6.9 liter per 100 kilometers. Gearbox was a 5-speed manual.
And this is the mysterious badge. Chery SL. I don’t know where SL stands for. It is a mystery. It has been spotted by others as well, so it was definitely a Chery type name or abbreviation. S perhaps for Shanghai? If you know more, please let us know in the comments below.
In that time, ABS and 5-speed gearboxes were still seen as luxurious. Many cars used 4-speed boxes and ABS was yet rare in this segment. So the Fengyun SQR7160 has a super cool ABS+5SPEED badge.
The car was sadly in a pretty bad shape inside and out. The seats look really crappy but the dash is still okay, fitted with a very typical VAG steering wheel. Chery got these wheels from the same suppliers that sold them to Volkswagen for the FAW-VW Jetta. Chery got other parts in this way as well. Volkswagen later sued Chery for this but nothing came of it.
Classic Chinese trick: shorter rear bench makes for more leg room.
I saw this Chery on a parking lot near a car market. License plates were off, which is usually a sign a a car is destined for the scrapyard. Let’s hope some of these now almost classic Chery’s will survive.
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