A Daewoo Lanos sedan, seem in the winter of 2019 in Wangjing Subdistrict in Beijing. The small Daewoo was in a fine shape, painted in virgin white with he original covers still on the wheels.
Beijing issued blue 京A license plates to early privately registered cars. They are very rare today.
The Daewoo Lanos was made from 1997 until 2002 in sedan and hatchback (3 and 4 doors) forms. It was independently developed by Daewoo, which invested a steep 420 million US dollars in the project, with some of that money going to Pininfarina for the design. The Italian studio did a nice job, the Lanos was a fine looking car inside and out. It was stylish and modern, really a Daewoo that didn’t look like a Daewoo.
The interior was a big mess. The owner clearly didn’t like cleaning! The door panels are almost black, the plastics are way too shiny, and the ash tray shows signs of a heavy smoker. The seat covers and steering wheel cover are after-market accessories. The Lanos was available with 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 liter petrol engines, mated to a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.
The Daewoo Lanos sedan was officially sold in China as an import, where it competed with locally made cars like the FAW-Volkswagen Jetta and the Dongfeng-PSA Citroen Fukang ZX. Only engine option was a 1.5 petrol with 86 hp, mated to the manual ‘box. Price started at 150.000 yuan. The Chinese name of the Lanos was 蓝龙, Lanlong, and that means blue dragon.
It was a serious operation for Daewoo. In 2002, the Korean company had set up 44 authorized repair centers in China, including 5 in Beijing. Still, in 2001, Daewoo only sold 2000 units, which was way too less for the investment. The Lanos is thus a rare car, especially in this condition.
Soon after 2002 Daewoo pulled out of the Chinese market and the company was eventually taken over by General Motors, which used several Daewoo platforms to underpin small and compact cars made by the Shanghai-GM joint venture.
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