A pretty Tianma Fengchi KZ6490E SUV, seen in the great city of Jinan in Shandong Province in 2017. The Fengchi was in reasonable shape, getting a bit old, needing some love. But happily it was largely original, with the factory wheels and decals.
The beautiful Tianma logo, with a T and an M in an oval. Tianma (天马) means ‘heavenly horse’. The car’s type name, Fengchi (风驰), is best translated as ‘wind gallop’. All very poetical! KZ6490E is the official designation.
The Tianma Fengchi KZ6490E SUV was manufactured from 2003 until 2007 by a company called Hebei Baoding Tianma Automobile Corporation, based in Baoding city in Hebei Province, which is also home to Great Wall Motors. Tianma Automobile was founded in 1996, a spinoff from the People’s Liberation Army 9506 Factory, which was a large industrial conglomerate controlled by the Chinese armed forces.
The company made pickup trucks and small trucks for the army, and added cheap SUVs to the line-up after 1996. The car making operations were sadly not very successful and were killed off in 2012. Tianma reverted to truck making via a joint venture with Shanqi Truck, a subsidiary of Shaanxi Automobile, one of the largest truck makers in China and a major supplier of the Chinese army.
The interiors of these cars were never very good, quality wise, even when new, and so it shows here. The plastics look faded and it all seems very broken down. The radio is an after-market example. The seats are covered by two sets of seat covers. What lies below there can’t be very good…
The Fengchi was powered by the famous Mitsubishi ‘Sirius’ 2.4 liter four-cylinder petrol engine, an engine that powered so many cheap Chinese SUVs and pickup trucks from dozens of car makers. The engine was manufactured by the Shenyang Aerospace Mitsubishi Motors Engine Manufacturing Corporation, or Shenyang-Mitsubishi for short, an engine making joint venture that was founded in 1997 and still exists today.
The engine had an output of 127hp and 180nm, which was good for a top speed of 150 kilometer per hour. Gearbox was a 5-speed manual sending horses to all four wheels. Tianma also sold a rear-wheel driver variant, but with another designation. Fuel consumption was 7.80 liter per 100 kilometer. Size: 4620/1885/1825, wheelbase was 2720 and curb weight 1830kg. Price for all this pretty (2002): 70.700 yuan, and that wasn’t much money for such a big and characterful car.
A bit of a mystery here. TM for Tianma, I assume, but I haven’t been able to figure out the meaning of ‘sta’. I have checked spec sheets that are still online but none mention sta. Perhaps it was a trim level or some safety feature. If you know what it means, please let me know in the comments below.
The Fengchi had a lot of equipment for the money. The spare wheel cover, the fancy light visors, the sporty alloys with fat tires, the side bars, and the roof rack were all factory standard.
The designation KZ6490E.
Tianma cars have always been a rare sight in China’s big cities, as they were mostly sold in smaller cities and down countryside. When you go there, they are not extremely rare. But quality problems, lack of spare parts, and environmental regulations will make sure most of these great Heavenly Horses will end up in heaven indeed.
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STA can be Standard or Stationwagon…………..