Autoshite manufactured under licence.

[RedSparrow]

According Lieipedia 1984 to 88 for that style of Alto.

[barrett]

Reliant kitten 4 door prototype

 

Wrong!

 

That's a Sipani Dolphin or Montana (can't remember which), which although evolving out of the Reliant Kitten, is far from being either a prototype or a Reliant. Reliant were looking into producing a 4-dr Kitten but it wasn't viable so they turned it into one of their 'instant third world motor industry' products and sold it to some dodgy (Greek?) blokes who set up production in India. There are some photos floating around the interwebz somewhere of the pukka 4-dr Kitten proto which looks very, very different

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Excellent product knowledge! I thought it looked a bit 'Sipani'.

[RedSparrow]

There was a Reliant Kitten prototype (4 wheels), based on the late style Rialto for sale on ebay about a year ago (somwhere in ebay tat thread). Can't find it now!

[Barry Cade]

What about these? They were supposed to be 5000 Euros..

 

[Guest]

They bought it to stop the chinese from knocking out some wobbly shite with a Rover badge and selling it two doors down from the 'Land Rover' dealer.

 

Isn't that what happened anyway when Rover was still in the UK?

[Richard]

No hotlinking.

 

 

I've seen a few Logans but they've all been foreign registered and van shaped. Can you buy them in the UK?

[cort16]

You can't get Dacia's here. I had one as a hire car a couple of years ago and it was so shite it was kind of endearing. It reminded me of driving my 1980 Ford Cortina even though it was only a year old. Dacia's Renaults budget arm so they're full of recycled bits of Renault tat. They're mega cheap though.

 

On the same kind of level there's the Nissan Tiida. Deemed too shite for the UK by Nissan but smuggled in via Ireland by Arnold Clark much to the annoyance of Nissan who're trying to look all cool and that these days.

 

Drive away a brand new 60 plate for £7995 http://www.arnoldclark.com/nearly-new-cars/nissan/tiida/1.6-se-4-dr/60/ref/blk_kadiqk32qb4xoh01/ or

make 60 low payments of £159 (to find that it's worth less than £159 after the 60th payment).

In true vintage shite style it'a got few redeeming features other than being new, cheap and attached to a megalowpaymentz finance scheme.

 

[Formula Autos]

To get round the whole 'safety' issue, could someone not build old Volve 200/700s under licence? They've still got an image of absolute solidity and safety, so would no doubt still appeal to people who fancied one 'back in the day'. NCAP stars or not, people would still be convinced they were buying something 'solid'.

 

One like this would be rather nice (the Ovlov, I mean).

 

GR8 for arriving home in and then boring the wife shitless while you moan about the traffic.

[Formula Autos]

Internet wanderings led me to this:

A Nanjing Yuejin Soyat or, to us, a re-hashed Mk1Ibiza.

[Cavcraft]

I'd like to see the Transit Mk3 complete with Di engine make a come back.

[pogweasel]

Would a GAZ van do for you?

Looks like a transit but is allegedly more closely related to LDV's bor extra shiteness.

[Simon M]

When they tried importing the Hindustan Ambassador it ended up being hideously expensive, over £10k IIRC. It's hard to think of a reason for buying one instead of a nearly new Mondeo or a restored proper Morris Oxford.

 

I do really fancy one of these, though: http://www.merlingarages.co.uk/oxford.htm

 

I don't think I'll get one, though - apparently Merlin Garages have not been answering their phones or e-mails for a number of years, which makes me think their attempt to make Britain love the Ambassador was about as successful as Fullbore Motors' was back in the 90s.

[Cavcraft]

Fugging Norah, that Gaz looks like it's had a Metro front end cobbled on. I'd still roll one like for shits and giggles.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Internet wanderings led me to this:

A Nanjing Yuejin Soyat or, to us, a re-hashed Mk1Ibiza.

 

These are class, they've even still got the 'system porsche' engine! WANTZ

[trigger]

And to think thats the same company that now owns MG/Rover.

[ChinaTom]

It is pointless trying to identify one Chinese auto manufacturer from another - they are all fairly interlinked. That Ibiza is no longer available to buy new - in fact most of the recycled euro-designs are old hat now and most of them are long-gone from the roads. Old Santana and ZX taxis are now being replaced by Tourans.

The Chinese auto industry went from 60's standards to present standards in 10 years. Relatively speaking, my 2003 GW Deer is the equivalent of something like a 504 estate would be in UK - annual vehicle check (our MOT) inspectors are genuinely shocked to see it still on the road.

 

I think the Seat Exeo will be the last we'll see of re-issued designs. The Stellar tried to woo Cortina customers didn't they? Not a great success.

 

I just can't see the Roewe finding success back in UK - there aren't any diesel engine versions in China - most are 2.5 V6's with economy suited to cheap fuel. Even the 1.8T engine wouldn't see more than 35mpg. If we were LHD people, then maybe.

 

Chinese manufacturers showing up at US and Euro car shows are really doing it for PR for their home-grown aspirations. The demand domestically is still evolving and likely to pull manufacturers in unusual and currently unlikely directions. A new vehicle is hopelessly out of date after a few years - aesthetically and mechanically - in terms of showroom sales. The Juke will be old hat in 3 years.

 

India is more relevant to re-issues of vehicle design and re-launch than China. India do appear (in my understanding and perception) to have a better make do and fix policy when it comes to vehicles and whilst Indian conceptual design is still far from the cutting edge - I don't really expect Jaguar/LR ownership to have a massive influence on Tata mainstream future products other than fundamental quality and workmanship issues; some basic engineering standards will increase, and those basic improvements are quite often no more expensive to produce than current offerings as cost increases in material quality should be offset by the efficiency improvements.

 

Any re-issued Rover 623GSi for sale in UK is far more likely to be Indian idea imho.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I don't think Honda would be dead keen on an old Accord platform being reproduced.

When MG Rover collapsed they were quick to scoop up all the Rover 400/45 documents, and I believe they ordered all the shells to be crushed too.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Mark 1 Golf. They made them until recently anyway in Seth Irfrikka. Modern 1.3-1.4 VW motor, insert a few hairbags etc. At £7995 they'd fly out the door I reckon, aided by a suitably retro sales campaign.

[garethj]

Mark 1 Golf. They made them until recently anyway in Seth Irfrikka. Modern 1.3-1.4 VW motor, insert a few hairbags etc. At £7995 they'd fly out the door I reckon, aided by a suitably retro sales campaign.

Not a bad idea, especially if you did a GTi version. I wonder how much heavier it would be if it was made from the high-strength steel that modern cars have? And they’d need to put the brake servo on the master cylinder, not 4 feet away....

 

VW are churning out some pokey little engines now, don’t they do a 1.4 with about 160bhp or something? A slightly smaller version would be just dandy as long as they keep the weight down. I reckon there’s a USP (unique selling point in marketing terms, darling) in making a car with less power, that performs better.

[boobydoo]

Funnily enough, i was thinking about those Mk1 Ibizas the other day...and how they have completely vanished!! I can't remember the last time I saw one. You're unlikely to see one at a show just yet and you never even see a giffer-owned one in Morrisons car park. Where are they all?

 

I test drove one in the late 80s at my local dealer...they were doing £99 deposit , 4 year finance at the time. I think they cost about £4000 for a basic one. It had really strange indicators...sort of a flap arrangement instead of stalks. I remember the salesman trying to get me to buy a new Malaga instead cos they weren't shifting...he was willing to do one for the same price as a basic 3 door Ibiza.

 

However, you won't be surprised that I bought a 3 year old Talbot Alpine Rapier in two-tone blue instead....it was £3295, one owner 32,000 miles.

 

I think a Ibiza/Malaga 'save' is the next challenge for someone on here.

[cms206]

Manufactured under license... Mk3 Cavalier simply because I still don't believe Vauxhall have beaten it yet (and I'd buy one no bother and rustproof the tits off it) or the Mk3 Transit Di made of somewhat better metal; the Mk4 Transit was somewhat of a worse improvement, certainly our FWD 100 T260 on a 53-plate ate gearboxes and clutches for some reason and our 05-plate Tourneo ate front tyres.

 

The Nissan Tiida is an odd one which up here certainly seems to be selling better than anyone expected though I'm sure they'll be like Hyundai Ponys and vanish within ten years. My mate's dad has just bought one to replace a Daewoo Tacuma; I'll pester him for a shot of it and go an Autoshite road test if I get the chance...

[AnthonyG]

The Maestro tooling was passed around two or three Chinese companies before they eventually gave up with it - the last firm even built a Subaru Forester lookalike which was still a Maestro underneath, you could tell by the proportions and wheelbase - the back of the front wheel was still fairly close to the base of the A pillar, for instance. AROnline has got the details on the Maestro pages.

 

But as CT says, all that junk (and a lot of the random examples of small metalworking/light engineering firms producing old designs) is falling by the wayside very quickly.

 

Think about how the Japanese industry progressed between 1960 and 1970 - from copies of Dauphines and A50s to the Nissan 240Z, the FWD Cherry and the Toyota Celica. The Chinese are somewhere between the start and the middle of the same process - give them another five years and they could well be producing world class stuff, just like the Koreans are now. A Hyundai Genesis coupe is a pretty impressive vehicle.