Friday afternoon here in a hazy Beijing, time so for another strange vehicle from China. This is a motorized tricycle inspired by the Suzuki Alto. It was made in the late 1990′s by Jinan Qingqi Motorcycle Corporation from the great city of Jinan in Shandong Province.

The vehicle was simply called ‘Qingqi Alto Trycicle’ and sold for around 10.000 yuan, mostly to taxi drivers in da countryside. It was powered by a 125cc 12kw motorcycle engine, just powerful enough to outrun a goat.

This sorta vehicles is still extremely popular in rural China, just drive some 50km out of every big Chinese city and suddenly they are all over. There are hundreds of small factories that make ‘m and many are design-wise inspired by existing 4-wheel automobiles, this Alto however is certainly one of the very best.

Green, yellow and red, which one will it be? Sadly, Jinan Qingqi doesn’t make tricycle’s anymore. They seem to be a grwon-up company now making rather impressive motorcycle’s. The Qingqi Alto Trycicle will one die soon be gone from da streets completely, we believe it is our duty to keep it alive, at least a little bit.

I’ll be back with more tricycles soon.

Via: Mycar168, HC360

Today in Extreme Tuning from China: the Suzuki Alto. The second generation Alto, first-gen for China, was made in China from 1988 to 2007 by the Chang’an-Suzuki joint venture. It was a very popular car because it was cheap, reliable and easy to maintain. No wonder it also became a very hot car for customizing… Here we go, the Best of the Best:

Wait one moment, for comparison: a standard Chang’an-Suzuki Alto. Price started around 32.000 yuan and ended around 40.000 yuan. There have been many facelifts over its long life but the engine was always the same F8B 0.8 liter three-cylinder which pooped out 40hp.

“No it ain’t nu Suzuki Mrs. Wang, this is a real Mitsu!” Yez we believe! big bad body-kit that among other things made the head-lights smaller. Don’t use it in the mountains at night… Fake air intakes, huge wing on the back and a gigantic front spoiler.

Very fine in black. Extra mirrors on the front fenders. Cool tires with blacked out alloys. Flames on the side look fast although flames seem to go backwards.

An older car here before the real madness started. Bull-bar up front was a popular option that could be ordered at the dealer. Big roof-rack for the dog.

A banana yellow Alto with its proud owner, wearing sunglasses because he is just too cool.

An Alto with a half-naked lady on the bonnet, touchy for China… This one is so weird I just have to show you another pic from the side:

Lalala, no comments. It gets even better:

Yez!, Lambo-doors was what we needed.

With a Marlboro-sticker on the grill, this Alto must be smoking fast. Roof-tack painted in red a nice idea.

Blue lights fit with blue alloys. Peugeot-sticker on the front bumper.

Not too much crap here, nice ‘n clean silver car, Nissan GTR-badge on the grille.

“Well hello ol’ chap, how is that Queen today?” The English-flag Alto.

Roof-rack right in front of the wing, wonder what that does to the air flow. Bull-bar on the rear was also a factory option.

This is brilliant, the desert-Alto. Custom-made body kit with fat wheel arches and a stoop in between. Paint-job must have been a lotta work.

But!, only one can be The Best and this is it, the Chang’an-Suzuki wedding-fireworks cara.

Here we have a very interesting vehicle that was used in 2008 by lucky man from the traffic police in the great city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. It is a convertible police car based on the old Suzuki Alto that was made by the Chang’an-Suzuki joint venture.On the first pic the Alto with the roof up.

With the roof down. The idea was to enable traffic police officers to direct traffic while driving. Note the handle-bar behind the front-seats, this is where the officer could keep himself steady with one hand while directing traffic with the other. This makes this little Alto some sort of parade car.

As far as we know only one Alto Police Convertible was made, it likely didn’t work for some reason. Too bad because it loox kinda cool. The car reminds me of another Alto convertible that was made by a mad man, from Chengdu as well.

The Alto by the way is still in production in China, now made by Jiangnan Automobile.

Update, got two more pics:

Upper-part of the handle bar taken down here.

Via: Sohu, Zjol, Autohome.

Here we have another very special China-only automobile and this is one I almost bought myself; the Chang’an-Suzuki Alto Happy Prince. I was a horty-sporty machine based on the standard Alto made in China by the Chang’an-Suzuki joint venture.

All spoilers and skirts came straight from the factory, including this magic fake air-intake on the bonnet. The Happy Prince was made from 2001 until 2008. I came to live in China in 2003 and sure was looking for a cheap car. I loved the mad Happy Prince, tried it out, but in the end decided it was too small for my long Dutch legs, I bought a second hand 1998 Beijing-Jeep Cherokee instead which I still proudly own today.

The Happy Prince came with a full-blown body kit, special alloys, roof-rails, and brilliant ladder-like-a-things on the back. I never figured out what those where for, or where they were intended for. Didn’t matter anyway, the package looked fast enough!

Let’s have a read, this badges site right before the rear wheel: “New Alto Style. We offer the Ultimate Happy Prince. Let those getting happiness enjoy life. Keep on Moving”. Yeah!

I found this particular little beauty in an alley not very far from my wife’s office. It was definitely still driven, dust on the wheels, had hit the highway making many miles! The Happy Price, like all Alto’s at the time, was powered by a tiny 3-cylinder 0.8 engine. Price in 2008 was 36.800 yuan.

On the very left we see the official-factory code-name: SC7080B.

Factory pic from the Suzuki Alto Happy Prince. Now that I am writing all this, I can’t help thinking: what would have gone differently in my little life, had I indeed bought one? Questions, questions…

Ending this story with a white example, with a sexy girl in top of it.

Here we have an interesting car, on sale on a second-hand market in Shandong. It is a Jiangnan Alto and was registered in 2009.  Jiangnan Automotive made the Suzuki Alto under license in China from around 1995 up until 2009 when production stopped. Recently however, they brought it back yet again. Added: funny factory-link.

The first series and the new series are basically no more than the Suzuki Alto with different badges. For one serie though, made from 2008-2010, Jiangnan did its very best to make something of their own and designed a new front. That is the car on these pics. A rare thing it is, they probably only made a few thousand of  ‘m. This particular cars costs only 17.900 yuan, not much indeed for a future classic.

Back didn’t change. Power comes from a 0.8 three-cylinder with 36hp, mated to a five-speed manual.  That is exactly the same engine as Jiangnan is still using today.

Dash is basic, but it won’t break, at least not every day.

Factory pic, loox very clean in white.

White car in da wild. Compare with standard Jiangnan Alto:

Me say: Jiangnan improved the damn thing. What do you think?

Via: Cheshi.com.

The cheapest car in China is no more, long live China’s cheapest car. The Jiangnan Alto got a new name and it is a good one: Jiangnan TT. The TT is based on the old-old Suzuki Alto, Jiangnan got a license from Suzuki so no copying here.

Jiangnan is a subsidiary from Zoyte Automobile which makes old Fiats under license. Price of the Jiangnan TT starts at 20.800 yuan and ends at 25.800 yuan. Basic engine is a 0.8L three-cylinder with 36hp.

We heard about the return of the Alto way back in September, but need to wait no more, the Alto is back in business. The ‘Basic’ version, pictured, costs 18.800 yuan, that is 2049 euro or 2830 usd. The ‘Standard’ goes for 21.800 and the ‘Luxury’ for 23.800. For 18.800 you get a very basic car indeed, with a 0.8 3-cilinder that pumps out 36hp.

Weight though is only 645kg. Size: 3300x1465x1410, wheelbase is 2175. Four persons can sit inside, cheap to buy and easy to ride. But there is one little catch. The old 3-cilinder ain’t exactly friendly for the environment so it is banned in many provinces and cities.

The Jiangnan Alto will therefore only be on sale in the following privinces: Hunan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shandong, Jilin, Shanxi and Henan. All farmland, except for Shandong, which has some civilization. No new-old Alto’s here in Beijing, too bad…

The Suzuki Alto has been made in China by many a factory with many a name. Some factories did have a deal with Suzuki but most factories actually did not. Most famous of all is the Chang’an-Suzuki joint venture which made the Alto until only one year ago when it was replaced with the new Alto. The old one though refuses to die.

Jiangnan Auto, under ownership of Zotye Auto, brings it back for only 18.000 yuan (2600 usd) which makes it the cheapest passenger car on sale in China today. The Alto, ‘Aotuo’ in Chinese, has an 0.8 litre engine which won’t make it quick but not too slow either because the Alto is a very light car.

On the plate: 江南奥拓, Jiangnan Aotuo. I doubt whether it will be allowed in the big cities, if anyone there would like to buy it, but in China’s vast countryside there is surely a huge market for a car like this.

Chang’an-Suzuki brings on a new edition of the Alto, called the ‘Cool’. It is a sporty machine with a full bodykit and a more funky interior. Engine is the same 1.0 as in the normal car so the Cool will be slower thanks to all the extra plastic. But who cares, a bodykit is cool.

Prices slightly higher compared to the standard Alto: 53.900 for the manual and 62.900 for the auto. Standard Alto: 49.900 and 58.900.

Funkyfunky.

New Cool edition ain’t the first sporty Alto.  Chang’an Suzuki made this factory-sold sports version of the old one with a roofrack, spoilers, big foglights and a fake vent on the bonnet. Price was 40.000 yuan.

A hard working man from the city of Chengdu made himself his dreamcar: a Chang’an-Suzuki Alto 4-door convertible. The engine is modified too, the man claims it can now accelerate faster than “a BMW”.

Mitsubishi windowsticker makes car even more fast. The man spend two years building his machine, total cost 20.000 yuan, not much for a true one and only.

Chang’an-Suzuki made the Alto up until only two years ago. Car on pic a factory-sold sports version with roofrack, spoilers, big foglights and a fake vent on the bonnet. Price was 40.000 yuan, sadly the old Alto has now been replaced by a new Alto, a much more boring car.