About China's Coolest Cars
Welcome to Black License Plate Mania in Beijing, Part 14, where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. The first photo is a Shanghai-GM Buick Regal sedan with 京A·18554. It also has a beautiful, shiny license plate frame, which was a popular accessory in the 2000s.
Continue reading “Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 14”
Here’s a Buick Electra L7, seen at a makeshift parking lot in Beijing on a warm spring day in 2026. The Morning Glow Rice-painted car looked pretty good under the sun, with its aerodynamic design and shiny chrome trim.
Continue reading “Buick Electra L7: China-only EREV Sedan With Lidar”
Here is a beautiful Audi 100 S4, seen in the Dongzhimen area of Beijing in February 2013. I lived in the area at the time and had seen the Audi speeding by several times, but it was always gone before I had my phone out. Finally, one day, I found it casually parked on a bike lane, completely unattended.
Continue reading “Audi 100 S4 4.2-Liter V8 Is A Speedy German Sedan In China”
Today’s cool car in China is this pretty Buick Sail SR-V, which I saw at a car market in east Beijing in September 2019. The SR-V looked great in red, and still had its original stickers and wheel covers.
Continue reading “Buick Sail SR-V Is A Red Wagon In China With Opel Genes”
This is a Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL Pullman stretched limousine, based on the W140 S-Class. I saw this great-looking limousine at a car market in East Beijing in 2017. It stood alone in front of an abandoned shop – seemingly abandoned. Happily, it seemed in reasonable shape.
Continue reading “Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL Pullman Stretched Limousine Is The Ultimate W140”
Here’s a Tank 400 Hi4-T, seen in the far south of the Chinese capital, Beijing. The color is Nebula Gray; some 90% of all Tank 400 buyers go for this stealthy shade. It also has a large roof rack and a ladder.
Continue reading “Tank 400 Hi4-T Is A Chinese PHEV SUV With 310 kW and 750 Nm”
Here’s a Hongqi Qijian CA7460, seen at a car market in Beijing. The big Hongqi looked a little dusty but seemed otherwise in good shape. It was black, as they all are, with a shiny grille and loads of chrome.
Continue reading “Hongqi Qijian CA7460 Is A Chinese-American Luxury Sedan”
This is the 2025 Xpeng X9 Performance, seen in Beijing. The giant machine looks more like a spaceship than a car, especially in this pretty Nebula White color, combined with darkened windows and gray aero wheels.
Continue reading “Xpeng X9 Performance Is A Speedy Chinese Electric MPV”
I love Chinese police cars. In the summer of 2018, I was riding around the far east of Beijing with my red Luyuan electric scooter. At one moment, I crossed a railway and found a yard filled with decommissioned police cars from the 1990s, including many classic Beijing Jeep Cherokees.
That made my day. Two elderly police men guarded the place; they were playing cards in the gray building in the background. They didn’t show much surprise about me showing up, and didn’t mind me walking around and taking photos. So, here we go:
Here’s a Chery Fulwin A9L, a large aerodynamic sedan with a PHEV powertrain. I met it in front of a Chery dealer in southern Beijing. It is a great-looking car, featuring a lot of tech and power.
Continue reading “Chery Fulwin A9L: Streamlined PHEV With 470 kW For $27K”
