About China's Coolest Cars
Welcome to Black License Plate Mania in Beijing Part 5 (Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4), where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. Also, see this tag for more detailed reviews of other black-plated vehicles. On the first picture a very early W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class with 京A·06734.
Continue reading “Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 5”
Welcome to Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 4 (Part 1 Part 2 Part 3), where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. Also see this tag for more detailed reviews of other black-plated vehicles. On the first picture a Beijing-Hyundai Elantra with 京A·35420, and with a pretty lady in a wine red jacket.
Continue reading “Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 4”
A black Volkswagen Magotan sedan, seen near Volkswagen’s former China headquarters in Sanlitun District in Beijing. The Magotan is a China-only sedan produced over several generations since 2007. The Magotan in the photo is a first-generation car, which was based on the Volkswagen Passat B6.
Continue reading “Volkswagen Magotan 2.0 TSI On Black Plates In China”
Back in April, I wrote about a 4th-generation Honda Accord sedan with black 京A·03383 license plates. When digging through my archives, I found another and very similar car, with 京A·07472 black license plates.
Continue reading “Fourth Generation Honda Accord Sedan In China With Black Plates – 2”
Welcome to Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 2 (Part 1 here), where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. Also see this tag for more detailed reviews of other black-plated vehicles. On the first picture a Shanghai-GM Buick Lacrosse with 京A·31029.
Continue reading “Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 3”
A dusty Toyota Avalon sedan, seen on a cold but sunny winter’s day in December 2017 in the Chinese capital Beijing. The big Toyota was in a reasonable shape, with some paint damage and a few scratches here and there.
Continue reading “A First Generation Toyota Avalon On Black License Plates In China”
A bright red Ford Capri sporty car, seen seemingly abandoned in the underground parking lot of the Ikea on the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. At the time, parking at Ikea was free, no matter how long you parked there, so a lot of cars were parked there ‘long term’, or dumped. The poor Capri was dusty and looked like it hadn’t moved for ages.
Continue reading “Ford Capri Convertible Abandoned In Ikea In China”
Here we have a first-generation Ford Ka with black license plates, painted in purple with gray bumpers, sporty five-spoke wheels, a red grille, and with 京A license plates. I saw it on a dreary morning on the road right across the building where I lived at the time, in the Chinese capital, Beijing, in 2005.
The first-generation Ford Ka was made from 1996 until 2008. It was never officially sold in China.
Black license plates were issued to foreign-owned companies from the 1980s to the early 00’s. These companies could buy a car locally, and they were also allowed to import their own cars. When they sold these cars, the license plate would go with it. This only changed in 2016, when a new rule ruled out any continuation of the old 京A license plates.
The 京A Ford Ka became somewhat of a famous car in Beijing later on. I remember seeing it on all sorts of local car websites and such, and it took me a while before I realized I had met it first. Great Ford, and a good Ka.
Welcome to Black License Plate Mania In Beijing, where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. On the first picture the famous Jaguar XJ12 with 京A·03333.
Continue reading “Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 2”
Is Kia cool? Kia is cool. Just look at this Opirus, a premium midsize sedan with a front that mixes the best of Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.
Continue reading “The Kia Opirus Is A Premium Korean Sedan In China”
