The Chery Cowin 2 has been continuously in production since 1999. the Chery Cowin 2 (aka Qiyun (Flagcloud), fka ‘Cowin’, fka Fengyun (Windcloud)) is based on the ancient Seat Toledo (VW Group A2).

No cloning or copying here, Chery bought the production line when production of the Toledo ended in Spain in 1998, shipped everything to China and restarted production in Anhui Province. The Cowin 2 has since then been a modest but reliable money maker for Chery. But everything ends and after almost 15 years it is time indeed for a new car.

Current 2012 Chery Cowin. Powered by a 1.5. Price ranges from 47.800 to 59.800 yuan.

The new Cowin 2, codenamed S32, is likely based on a shortened Chery A3 platform. A debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April seems unlikely, next chance will be the Guangzhou Auto Show in early December.

Via: Sohu.

Reuters cites “two people with direct knowledge of the matter” who are saying that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Chery Auto are working out the final details of a deal to start a joint venture for making JLR-cars in China.

Parties have asked the Chinese central government for approval and aim to announce the forming of the joint venture at the Beijing Auto Show in April.

Well, we will see. JLR and Chery have been talking and talking for over a year now and the Chinese government has just announced it will be much more strict in approving new foreign investment in the auto sector. It seems to me the JV ain’t a sure thing just yet.

Here we have a nicely modified Chery Fengyun sedan. The Fengyun, aka Windcloud, was Chery’s very first car and based on the Seat Toledo. Legally, that was, because Chery bought the production line and when production ended in Spain in 1998, shipped everything to China and restarted production in Anhui Province.

The standard Fengyun was a rather cheap, reliable and very boring car. This great extremely tuned machine shows how things could have been, had there been vision!

We see, well,.., where to start? A fat body kit, very small wheels, white painted alloys, big wing on the black, closed rear windows, new grille, new head lights, new rear lights, loads of racy stickers for even more top speed, and best of all; four fake exhaust pipes! Must have been a lotta work and a lotta beer. Brilliant job, very much approved.

Standard Fengyun no cool.

Via: PCauto.

Back now to the April 2009 Shanghai auto Show. Chery surprised friend and foe with this massive Chery Eastar Limousine based on the cheap and no-nonsense Chery Eastar sedan. According to Chery it was ‘the first China made western-style limousine’, and that was likely truth indeed.

The Chery Eastar (aka Oriental Sun) Limousine was stretched by 2169mm in the middle which brought the total length a notch under 7 meter. Power came from Chery’s own 3.0 V6 which was by then still in the concept-stage, nowadays it is used in some top-end Chery cars.

The limousine itself was a concept as well, as far as we know only two were made, this white one which traveled to many shows in 2009-2010 and a black one that was spotted testing on the road.

Why find a difficult name when you can call a limousine just that? Now, the interior:

Sofa, tv, white leather, cream carpet and a massive sunroof, all very good.

King in a Chery.

Spy shot from the black car testing. Geely-logo and wheels in gold. It has never been on any auto show.

Interestingly, Chery was also working on a extended version of the Eastar in 2007, seen here on a junkyard near the Chery factory. I was extended by some 15 centimeters and never made it to the market either.

But the Chery-limousine story has not ended yet. In early November last year pics popped up from the Chery G6 Paramount, based on the more luxurious Chery G6 sedan. It is 7.2 meters long, powered by a 2.0 turbo and was expected to debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in December last year but didn’t show, maybe in Beijing in April?

Via: 66wz, Sohu, Sohu, 0755car, PCauto, Wenwen.

New spy shots of the upcoming Chery Riich G2 sedan. Both the G2 sedan and the G2 hatchback will debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April. The G2′s are based on the Chery A3 but will be positioned slightly higher; as in more luxurious.

First kinda clear pics of the interior. Sporty, but plastics look very cheap. Engines: 1.5 , 1.6 and probably a 1.5 turbo. Transmission: 5-speed manual or CVT. Price of the hatch will start around 80.000 yuan, sedan around 90.000 yuan. The Riich G2′s will be listed in China in July.

Via: Autohome.

The new Chery QQ Sport debuted at the Guangzhou Auto Show last month. price starts at 30.900 yuan and ends at 50.900 yuan. The QQ3 Sport is basically a facelift from the old QQ3, Chery is at the same time working on an all new QQ that will be positioned above the QQ3 Sport and priced from around 50.000 yuan.

The QQ has become a sort of coolness-icon in China with a huge fan-base, all sorts of very active QQ-internet fora and real-life QQ-clubs. Sure the low price helps a lot, making sure many QQ-buyers are young first-time car buyers who like to go out with their QQ in the weekends.

Engines: 0.8 3-cylinder with 43kw and 78nm and a 1.0 4-cylinder with 51kw and 93nm, both engines are mated to a 5-speed manual.

Via: Sohu.com.

China’s Chery and Great Wall automakers made significant inroads into New Zealand’s new car market last year, but they are still a long way from catching up with the traditional market leaders, the Motor Industry Association of New Zealand said Monday.

Sales of new vehicles last year at 84,640 units were up 5.2 percent from 2010, with passenger car sales up 3.2 percent to 64,019 units and commercial sales up 11.9 percent to 20,621.

Perry Kerr, chief executive officer of the association said the figures were outstanding given 2011 was a year of “significant challenges for the industry.”

Natural disasters in New Zealand as well as in Japan and Thailand coupled with a subdued economic environment and the Rugby World Cup diverting attention from car showrooms meant “it was always going to be a tough year,” said Kerr in a statement.

Stock shortages arising from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami affected some Japanese marques with Toyota, Mazda and Subaru stock all down, according to association figures.

Of the top 15 automakers, Hyundai, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Kia recorded sizable increases.

“The Chinese marques of Chery and Great Wall also recorded sizable increases though their overall market penetration is still small,” said the statement.

Toyota retained market leadership with 17,534 registrations last year giving it a 20.7-percent market share, followed by Ford with 8,656 registrations or 10.2 percent and Holden third with 8, 052 registrations or 9.5 percent. Second and third positions were reversed from 2010 registrations.

Toyota was the biggest seller of passenger cars with 11,796 registrations followed by Holden with 6,662 registrations. Hyundai was third with 6,072 registrations.

The luxury car rankings were unchanged with Audi remaining in top place with 1,331 registrations, followed by BMW at 1,217 and Mercedes-Benz at 981.

New Zealand’s top selling model continued to be the Toyota Corolla, selling 4,166 units, followed by the Suzuki Swift at 2, 892 with the Holden Commodore third at 2,381.

In December, new passenger car sales were up 17.1 percent year on year while commercial registrations were down 17.6 percent due to shortages of light commercial vehicle stock from Thailand.

Toyota’s Corolla, Yaris, RAV, Highlander and Camry were the top five selling models.

Via: ChinaDaily.

The new Chery Eastar sedan (aka Oriental Sun) will be listed on the China car market in Q1, likely in early March. The good old Eastar was a perfect vehicle for those who wanted a big, cheap and reliable A to B car. The new Eastar loox more up-class than the old one but it is still very cheap, price will start around 110.000 yuan.

Dash very neat, much better than in old car, materials improved. Car on pic with manual.

Power comes from Chery’s own 2.0L DVVT engine with 102kw and 182nm, mated to a 5-speed manual or CVT. Top speed is 185km/h for the manual and 180km/h for the CVT. Size: 4866/1840/1500, wheelbase is 2768.

Via: Autohome.

Hongqi is the most famous brand in Chine when it comes to parade cars. In 2008 however Chery tried to change that with help from the army and some astronauts. The Eastar parade car debuted in April 2008 and was used for a very special military parade.

The Eastar parade car was stretched by 20 centimeters in the middle, the roof went off and a handle bar was installed behind the front seats. The project was initiated by the People’s Liberation Army’s General Armament Department. This department was responsible, among many other duties, for taking care of China’s astronauts.

‘Taking care’ included organizing the many parades throughout the country after the astronauts returned from space. Until then the army always used Hongqi parade cars for the parties, but they wanted something more ‘Chinese’ for the heroes of the Shenzhou VII mission. The Hongqi after all, was not much more than a rebadged Audi with a Nissan engine.

And national pride was indeed at stake here! The Shenzhou VII mission marked the first time that China shot a rocket with 3 astronauts in space and one of those astronauts made China’s first spacewalk. The astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, waved around with a small Chinese flag while ‘walking’ in the endless nothing next to the spacecraft. A big China-party so and the army therefore wanted a Chinese vehicle and on they went to Chery Automotive which happily made 3 Eastar parade cars.

September 29, 2008. The Shenzhou mission was successful and the astronauts had safely returned on earth. After saying ni hao to the wives it was time for the parades. Pics are from the parade in Beijing but they paraded in many other cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and even Hong Kong.

Zhai Zhigang in the first car, the other two astronauts are Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng. Note white army plates and the many soldiers around. The Chery-logo was painted in gold.

The moment: September 27, at around 16:43 (0843 GMT), Zhai walked in space for 20 minutes.

More pics from the Chery Eastar parade car:

Sources: BJtengyuan and Sina.

Two pictures of the new Chery QQ that seem to be the real thing. The new QQ will likely and finally debut at the April 2012 Beijing Auto Show. It is not a replacement for the current QQ3 which was recently relaunched as Chery QQ3 Sport.

The new QQ has grown up and will be positioned slightly higher than the QQ3. Price will start around 50.000 yuan while the QQ3 Sport starts at 30.900 yuan. See below for one more ‘real’ pic and a load of new spy shots:

Proportions QQ-esque but slightly bigger.

Lights are lookers.

Space in the back still limited.

Manual gearbox. Dash and trim of much higher quality than QQ3 Sport.