Top Gear Shoots In China

Tycho de Feyter
by Tycho de Feyter

Chinese media are going wild because BBC’s Top Gear has landed in China. Jeremy Clarkson and James May arrived in Beijing for filming a new Top Gear episode which will be on TV in next year’s season. Judging from the pictures take on-scene, the shoot seems to center on two topics, and both may make the Chinese car industry lose the ever so important face.

The first episode appears to be May in a JAC Binyue and/against Jeremy in a Greatwall Haval M2.

The second item seems to be about copied Chinese cars. There is a Shuanghuan Noble (Smart), a Shuanghuan SCO (BMW X5) and a Lifan 320 (Mini). On some other pictures Clarkson and May are looking curiously at an old Chinese 3-wheeler. Top Gear always had a thing for 3-wheelers. Possibly, they will blame China for copying a Reliant Robin

A Land Rover Discovery camera-car has Shanghai-plates on it. And the press caught the Top Gear protagonists indulging in that great Chinese pastime: Smoking.

Lifan 320. Note Mini scale model on the roof. May having a smoke.

Clarkson having a smoke.

Shanghuan SEO on the left.

Guangzhou Auto Trumpchi, there seems to be a camera behind the window, not sure whether it is part of the show.

Shanghuan SEO.

Old Chinese 3-wheeler.

May takes a look at the engine.

Clarkson in Greatwall Haval S2.

Land Rover Discovery camera-car with Shanghai plates.

Tycho de Feyter
Tycho de Feyter

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  • MadHungarian MadHungarian on Dec 06, 2011

    A three wheeler with opera windows in the B-pillars, just like a '77 T-Bird. Wow.

  • Junebug Junebug on Dec 06, 2011

    You know, I'd like to just be the guy that films or drives the support truck for that show. What a cool thing, exotic locations, goofy fun, and getting paid for it.

  • Bkojote @Lou_BC I don't know how broad of a difference in capability there is between 2 door and 4 door broncos or even Wranglers as I can't speak to that from experience. Generally the consensus is while a Tacoma/4Runner is ~10% less capable on 'difficult' trails they're significantly more pleasant to drive on the way to the trails and actually pleasant the other 90% of the time. I'm guessing the Trailhunter narrows that gap even more and is probably almost as capable as a 4 Door Bronco Sasquatch but significantly more pleasant/fuel efficient on the road. To wit, just about everyone in our group with a 4Runner bought a second set of wheels/tires for when it sees road duty. Everyone in our group with a Bronco bought a second vehicle...
  • Aja8888 No.
  • 2manyvettes Since all of my cars have V8 gas engines (with one exception, a V6) guess what my opinion is about a cheap EV. And there is even a Tesla supercharger all of a mile from my house.
  • Cla65691460 April 24 (Reuters) - A made-in-China electric vehicle will hit U.S. dealers this summer offering power and efficiency similar to the Tesla Model Y, the world's best-selling EV, but for about $8,000 less.
  • FreedMike It certainly wouldn't hurt. But let's think about the demographic here. We're talking people with less money to spend, so it follows that many of them won't have a dedicated place to charge up. Lots of them may be urban dwellers. That means they'll be depending on the current charging infrastructure, which is improving, but isn't "there" yet. So...what would help EV adoption for less-well-heeled buyers, in my opinion, is improved charging options. We also have to think about the 900-pound gorilla in the room, namely: how do automakers make this category more profitable? The answer is clear: you go after margin, which means more expensive vehicles. That goes a long way to explaining why no one's making cheap EVS for our market. So...maybe cheaper EVs aren't all that necessary in the short term.
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