About China's Coolest Cars
Here we have a pretty Volkswagen Santana sedan, seen in the far east of the Chinese capital Beijing in 2019. The good Santana was in fine shape, a bit battered up perhaps, but that is part of the appeal of these great old cars.
Continue reading “An Early Volkswagen Santana Sedan In China”
A Volkswagen Gol, seen in China’s Hebei Province in December 2019. The good Gol was a tad dusty & dirty but otherwise in a fine shape, painted in silver with the factory wheel covers and black trim on the bumpers and around the windows.
Continue reading “Volkswagen Gol Was A Fine Small Family Car In China”
A red Volkswagen Polo sedan, seen parked at a charging station in Beijing in 2017. Well, Volkswagen still doesn’t make an electric Polo even today, so we can be sure our red car is in the wrong lot. Happily, it was in a reasonable shape for its years. Paint was fading a bit, some damage here and there, and the original wheel covers were gone. But that’s okay, as black steelies always look great on red cars.
Continue reading “Mk4 Volkswagen Polo Is A Rare 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!
A black Volkswagen Santana 2000 1.8 GSi, seen on the road in the Chinese capital Beijing. The old Volkswagen was in a reasonable shape, but clearly in need of some work and love.
Continue reading “The Volkswagen Santana 2000 1.8 GSi Was A Sporty Sedan For China”
This is a rare Volkswagen Passat 2.8 V6, seen in northern Beijing. The Chinese-German sedan was in great shape. Volkswagen produced the B6 Passat in China from 2003 to 2011, with multiple updates over the years. The car we have here is a 2007-2009 2.8 V6, the highest spec B6 Passat in China, and probably in the world.
Continue reading “The B6 Volkswagen Passat 2.8 V6 Is A Luxury Sedan In China”
