A Volkswagen Santana 2000 Police-Fire Car In The Rain In Beijing

A Volkswagen Santana 2000 in heavy rain in Beijing. Note the cool Xiali sedan in the background on the right.

This vehicle belongs to the fire prevention and control (消防) department of the police, so it is a bit of both a police car and a fire brigade car. The white license plates are used by the police, People’s Armed Police (PAP), and by the armed forces.

I took this photo in 2010, when the old white license plates were still in use.  WJ stands for wujing (武警), a collective abbreviation police and armed forces. 31 stands for Beijing.

The Santana 2000 was one of many Santana variants manufactured by the SAIC-Volkswagen joint venture in Shanghai. It was rather rare to see Shanghai-made cars in public service in Beijing, as the local government mostly bought locally-made cars, like Hyundais and Beijings, and such.

Anyway, with so much rain, the firefighters probably had an easy night!

Mistubishi Outlander Police Car In China

Mistubishi Outlander
Mistubishi Outlander

A very neat Mitsubishi Outlander police car in Beijing, capital of China. The first generation Outlander was manufactured by Beijing-Jeep. This odd arrangement dates from the days of Daimler-Chrysler, which also held a stake in Mitsubishi.

Chrysler had the long-running Beijing-Jeep joint venture in China, producing the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. Daimler-Chrysler added the Chrysler 300C, the Chrysler Sebring, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Pajero Sport, and this Outlander to the line-up.

White license plates are used by police, paramilitary police, and the armed forces. The black character on the left is jing, short for Beijing (北京). The character on the right is another jing, short for Jingcha (警察), also see bonnet, and that means police.

Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 At Pepper Lunch In Beijing

Lamborghini Gallardo

A Lamborghini LP 560-4 with a LP 570-4 Superleggera front-bumper conversion body kit, seen in front of my favorite Pepper Lunch restaurant in Beijing, capital of China. The speedy Lamboo was painted in yellow and stood on matte gray wheels.

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The Embassy Rides In A Roller In China

A Rolls-Royce Ghost with an embassy license plate in Beijing. In China, the first three numbers on an embassy plate indicate the country.

In this case, 121 stands for the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Rolls-Royce likely belongs to Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, who, like his father before him, is known to spend a lot of his time in Beijing.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost is an expensive car. In 2020, Rolls-Royce asked 4.5 million yuan for the German-British limousine. Under the long hood is a 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V12 with an output of 571 hp and 820 Nm. With that, the Ghost had a top speed of 250 km/h, and it did 0-100 in 4.9s

Brabus G800 Is A Yellow-Black Monster SUV In China

The Brabus G800 is a monster, and this particular example is a monstrosity. But it is still very cool. It is painted in yellow and black, with a dark gray grille. The headlights are especially interesting. They are partially covered with plastic pieces. Reduced drag, probably.

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996 Porsche 911 Targa Is Orange In China

A very sweet 996 Porsche 911 Targa, seen in central Beijing. Incredible A·YC911 license plates are from Zhejiang province. The good 911 is wrapped in a semi-shiny orange wrap. The original color seems white, see bumper.

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