A very nice Besturn B30 sedan, seen in Beijing in 2016. The good Besturn was painted in white and fitted with factory-standard sporty five spoke wheels. Besturn was a brand under First Auto Works (FAW). In 2018 the English name changed to Bestune but the Chinese name remained the same (奔腾, Benteng).
The Besturn B30 was the fourth Besturn-branded car after the B70, B50, X80, and B90. All these cars were based on platforms, or mixes of platforms, of cars made by the FAW-Volkswagen and FAW-Mazda joint ventures. The Besturn B30 was partially based on the Volkswagen Bora CN II. The B30 debuted in 2015 and was made until 2019.
The interior had a very clean design for a Chinese car of that period. There are a lot of visible parts from the Volkswagen bin, including the gear knob and lever, the stalks, and probably the steering wheel as well. The owner of this car added seat covers and an extra pillow on the driver’s seat.
The Besturn B30 was powered by a Volkswagen-developed 1.6 liter four-cylinder petrol with 109 hp and 155 nm, mated to a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. In 2017, Besturn unveiled an electric variant of the B30 but it was never mass produced.
奔腾 B30, Benteng, Besturn. The B30 was available in five trim levels but the engine was always the same. Price in 2016 started at 62.800 yuan and ended at 92.800 yuan.
The ‘Winged-1’ logo on the grille, with the 1 for First Auto Works.
The Besturn B30 was a reasonable success for FAW, especially since it didn’t spend much on platform and engine development. However, the rise of the crossover segment killed the B30, and there was no successor anymore.
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