About China's Coolest Cars
A fiery red Heico Sportiv Volvo C30, seen on a local auto show in Beijing in 2010. It looked absolutely brilliant and there was another one nearby.
The show was in a small sports stadium. Just previously, there had been a travel exhibition at the same venue, and the backdrops were still there! The red C30 stood in front of Greece.
Continue reading “Heico Sportiv Volvo C30 Times Two In China”
A horse-drawn carriage in Beijing. Until about 2010, it was normal to see these in the Chinese capital in the summer, bringing fruit and vegetables from the nearby countryside and selling them straight from the cart. On warm weekends, you would see them on many street corners.
And they came all the way to within the Second Ring Road, which was totally within the central center of Beijing. This picture was taken near Dongsi Shitiao in 2009. I lived in that area from 2003 until 2014. I have many fond memories of negotiating with these fine farmers about the price for a jin (0.5 kg) of whatever veggies they carried on their carts.
However, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games modernization drive meant the end for the horse-drawn carriages within the city center. It was cool for as long as it lasted! Note the Changan-Ford Fiesta sedan in the background.
A very pretty Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL, seen near the Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing, capital of China. The great Mercedes was in super shape and painted in white, a rather rare color for the S-Class in China.
A green Citroen Elysee VIP taxi, seen in the great city of Nanjing in Jiangsu province in China. The Elysee VIP was a long-wheelbase variant of the Elysee series, which was an updated Citroen Fukang, which was based on the ZX.
The Elysee VIP was made from 2005 until 2010 by Dongfeng-PSA. It was extended by 16 centimeters and powered by a 105 hp 1.6 liter four-cylinder petrol engine. The VIP version was a popular taxi due to the extra space in the back. When I visited Nanjing way back in 2012 these long Citroen limousines were all over the place!
This little wine-red beauty is a Volkswagen Citi Golf. The great VW was in good shape. Sure it was dusty, but was it not in the capital? The Volkswagen badge up front was made of metal and thus a bit rusty.
Continue reading “Volkswagen Citi Golf Is Wine Red In China”
Here we have a red ‘n pretty Daewoo Racer STi, seen at a temple complex in Beijing in 2020. The good Daewoo was sadly in a pretty bad shape and seemed abandoned.
Continue reading “Daewoo Racer STi Is Red In The Temple In China”
Pink cars always look good. Proof: Check this pink Hyundai Coupe. Without pink, nobody would see it. Now we do. It is a wrap and the original color was white; note the areas around the door handle and mirror stalk.
The second generation Hyundai Coupe was made from 2002 until 2008, with facelifts in 2005 and 2007. Our pinkie is a pre-facelift example. The Coupe was sold in China from 2004 until 2007. It was available with a 140 hp 2.0 and with a 170 hp 2.7 V6.
They were quite popular and quite a few are still around today, most of them modified in one way or the other.
The China-made Ford S-Max was a slow seller and is therefore a rather rare sight on the road. But here we got one! A silver example that seemed somewhat abandoned, looking very dusty and with a deflated rear tire.
Continue reading “The Ford S-Max Was Made In China For Just A While”
This is the Infiniti Q50 S, a sporty variant of the Q50 sedan for the Chinese market. It comes with a racy body kit, giant 19-inch wheels, darkened windows, darkened head light visors, and winglets in the bumper.
Continue reading “The Infiniti Q50 S Is A Speedy Sedan In China”
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!
