China's Changan Borrows a Ford
China’s Changan could make an own-brand car, based on technology acquired from joint venture partner Ford, says Automotive News [sub]. It would likely be a mid-sized sedan, based on a Ford platform. It would be produced in Changan’s plant in Nanjing, near Shanghai.
Building own-brand cars based on foreign platforms has a long tradition in China. FAW’s Red Flag cars were mostly outdated Audis. FAW was also known to use Lincoln parts for presidential limousines. FAW’s mid-size Besturn is based on the Mazda 6. Of course there is BAIC that bought Saab tooling. And the list goes on.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Tres bizarre.
Interesting... Bertel, just an FYI, the older HongQi's were indigenously designed, even if it was somewhat influenced by the Cadillacs and Zils of its day... This was largely a showpiece, and the government at the time made a big deal of it being autonomously engineered. Only in the 1980s did they begin to use Audi platforms, with Lincoln Towncar clones in the 1990s and early 2000s... By far the considered the "dark days" of the HongQi by most fans. The new HQ3 is (sadly) based on a Toyota Majesta... but the BIG HongQi (The one Hu Jintao rode around in during the 60th anniversary parade) is entirely home grown... even if the rear-end styling is reminscent of a Rolls.
Ah, the Audificiation of the HongQi started in the mid 90s, and lasted well into the fist decade of 2000. VW was quite miffed when FAW used a Crown for the Red Flag relaunch. But Toyota is also a JV partner - equal time!