A Toyota Crown Super Saloon 3.0 Twin Cam 24 sedan, seen in central Beijing in 2017. The Crown is painted in white, a relatively rare color for this great Japanese sedan.
The eight generation S130 Toyota Crown was manufactured from 1987 until 1995, in Nagoya, Japan. The Super Saloon was the second-most luxurious trim level after the Royal Saloon. It was powered by a 24 valve 3.0 liter six-in-line engine with 204 hp and 265 Nm, sending horses to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.
This particular car belonged, or perhaps still belongs, to the Vietnamese embassy. Like in most countries, cars used by foreign embassies have special license plates in China. In the capital Beijing, diplomatic license plates start with the character 使 (shi), is short for 大使馆 dashiguan, meaning embassy.
Each embassy has its own 3-digit number. In this case the number is 228, which stands for Vietnam. The next 3 digits are the car number. The ambassador’s official car is always 001 but there are no specific rules for the other numbers, and plates may be carried over from car to car. Our Toyota Crown has car number 039, which means that the license plate, when it was issued, was for the 39th car used by the Vietnamese embassy.