Month: June 2021

Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Hangtian Auto

Hangtian Auto

Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF): Hangtian Auto. This brand was owned and manufactured by two closely related companies: Guizhou Hangtian and Zhongguo Jiangnan Hangtian. Both companies were based in Guizhou Province and their core business was military aerospace, including spacecrafts, airplanes and missiles.

Hangtian Auto (航こう天てん汽车) literally means ‘Aerospace Auto’. The brand was founded in 1984 and existed until about 2005. During that time, Hangtian Auto made a series of vans, small trucks, and minibuses.

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Shenyang Songliao and Polarsun. Part 2: Polarsun.

Polarsun (Zhongshun) started with just a name change, continuing the production of the new Roger-designed minibus. This vehicle is based on the fourth generation of the Toyota HiAce. Polarsun is still using the SLQ  denomination, the minibus is called Polarsun Century SLQ6503.

Polarsun Century SLQ5023 at the Shanghai Salon 2005. There were several different front ends.

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Shenyang Songliao and Polarsun. Part 1: Songliao.

Songliao SLQ6450, Beijing 1995, photo Erik van Ingen Schenau.

Shenyang Songliao Auto Works were born in a military factory in the East China Military Region, established on April 24, 1949. The original site was located in Nanjing; in the early days, their main business was to repair cars for the army. On March 8, 1952, the military factory was ordered to go to Dandong on the bank of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province to participate in the Korean War, and to repair vehicles on the front line day and night.

Continue reading “Shenyang Songliao and Polarsun. Part 1: Songliao.”