Here’s a Chery Fulwin 1.6 EFI, seen in a car dealer area in Beijing in 2018. The old Chery sedan was in perfect shape, painted in a light shade of gold and fitted with the original 5-spoke sporty wheels. The Chery Fulwin is based on the Seat Toledo Mk 1.
About the Chery Fulwin and the Seat Toledo
Seat manufactured the Toledo in Spain from 1991 until 1999. After a murky, complicated deal, Chery purchased the Toledo production line and the blueprints from Seat. Chery shipped everything to its base in Wuhu, Anhui Province, and started production in China in late 1999. However, there was a problem.
About SAIC Chery
Under Chinese law at the time, car makers could obtain either a provincial or a national car-making permit. This was a leftover from the planned economy. Chery only had the former. That meant, in practice, that Chery could only sell its cars in its home province. To get around this, Chery forged a deal with Shanghai Auto (now SAIC).
Under the terms of the deal, Chery piggybacked on Shanghai Auto’s national permit. In exchange, Shanghai got a 20% stake in Chery. It was not a happy marriage. There was political infighting and financial troubles. The deal ended in 2003 when Chery finally received its own national production license. Cars of this period have a Shanghai-Chery badge on the back.
The badge: 上汽奇瑞, Shàngqì Qíruì, Shanghai Chery. 上汽 is short for 上海汽车, Shànghǎi Qìchē, Shanghai Auto. In 2004, whenChery took over production, the Shanghai-Chery badge disappeared.
About the designation
According to Chinese law at the time, each vehicle had to have a full designation on the back. This, too, was a leftover from the planned economy. Each car maker had, and still has, a 2 or 3-letter code. Chery’s code was, and still is, “SQR”. The full designation is SQR 7160 ES.
The Chery Fulwin 1.6 EFI
Fulwin is the English type name. The Chinese type name is 风云, Fēngyún, and that means “Wind cloud”. Chery offered various engines and trim levels. The car in the photos is the top-spec Chery Fulwin 1.6 EFI. When I walked around the vehicle, the owner came up to me. A very friendly fellow. He knew he had a special car, but he was surprised by the interest of a foreigner.
I hear that a lot. Chinese people, even those who know about cars, often don’t understand why foreigners care about “old” Chinese vehicles. Well, I do! He explained he did the maintenance mostly by himself. He did a fantastic job. I don’t think I have ever seen such a perfect 2003 Chery Fulwin sedan.
Specificications
The beautiful 1.6 EFI badge. EFI stands for Electronic Fuel Injection.
The deal with Seat did not include engines. Therefore, Chery purchased an old engine-production line from Ford in the United Kingdom for the CAC480 1.6-liter motor. Chery shipped the line to China and began producing it locally. The output was 84 hp and 128 Nm.
Chery coupled the engine to a five-speed manual transmission. The company claimed a 172 km/h top speed and a 6.5L/100 km fuel consumption. The dimensions of the Fulwin: 4335/1688/1449, with a 2468 wheelbase and a 1050 kg curb weight.
At the time, it was rare for Chinese cars to have ABS standard. Cars that did ABS as standard often had bespoke ABS badges. EDS stands for Electronic Differential System, a traction-assist feature related to the ABS.
This Chery Fulwin 1.6 EFI is a true milestone in China’s automotive history. It is the first Chery model, and it was developed in a typical way for the time: via misty deals, using an odd mix of platform and motors. I hope this car is still around today, preferably safely in a museum.