About China's Coolest Cars
Here we have a Toyota Carina E sedan, seen on a car market in Beijing in 2014. The good Toyota was in a fine shape, albeit a bit dusty. It was painted in dark green with tinted windows, and on old black license plates. The Carina E was a compact sedan, positioned above the Toyota Corolla.
Continue reading “Toyota Carina E Is A Rare Japanese Sedan In China”
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.
A Toyota Reiz sedan, seen in the central south of China’s capital Beijing in 2013, not far from where I spotted a Ford Focus sedan with a body kit on that very same day.
Continue reading “Toyota Reiz Is Wrapped In Orange In China”
A Toyota Cressida sedan, seen on a car market in the far north of Beijing in 2019. The Toyota stood alone parked partially in some bushes and it didn’t have license plates on. Happily, it was generally in a good shape but clearly in need of a bit of work and love.
Continue reading “Toyota Cressida Is A Pretty Japanese Sedan In China”
A left-hand-drive Toyota Mark II was Seen in Hohhot, China in 2018. It’s not an American-imported Toyota Cressida but a original Japanese Mark II(X80). The car is now missing and the original plate is seen on a Mercedes-Benz GLS. I processed the plate.
A second generation Toyota Zelas, seen in north Beijing in December 2019. The good Toyota was a bit dirty, but basically every car is dirty in the Beijing winter, when roads are covered with a dusty kind of snowy mud.
Continue reading “Toyota Zelas Is A Small Japanese Sports Coupe In China”
A majestic seventh generation (S120) Toyota Crown Super Saloon 2.8, seen in the great city of Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, by Friend of the Site Fa1rrhaven Zhou, thank you for the photos!
Continue reading “Seventh generation Toyota Crown Super Saloon 2.8 Is Pretty In Silver In China”
An E100 Toyota Corolla sedan with diplomatic license plates, seen on a small car repair market in north Beijing in 2015. The good Toyota was in a pretty bad shape and appeared to be abandoned.
Continue reading “Toyota Corolla Sedan Of The Bulgarian Embassy In China”
A pristine Toyota Camry XV20 sedan, seen in China’s capital Beijing in 2016. The Camry was in a very good shape for its years, painted in a clean shade of white and still standing on the original factory alloy wheels. License plate is an oldie, likely with the car from first registration.
Continue reading “Toyota Camry XV20 2.2 Is A Cool Japanese Sedan In China”
A Toyota Yaris hatchback, seen on a parking lot in Beijing. The Yaris was in a reasonable shape, a bit dirty and dusty, with its paint a little faded, but yet on its original wheel and with a very cool 京P·68989 license plate. All of these numbers have a lucky connotation in Chinese culture, so this must be one lucky Yaris indeed.
Continue reading “Guangzhou-Toyota Yaris Is A Small Chinese-Japanese Hatchback”
