Blast from the past – Wuling cloned 80′s car for 90′s sales
How it started, an original Visa (albeit a GT model):
You may think that Chinese clones of cars is a relatively new thing, with the rise of Chinese car markets, came the rise of automobile clones. In 1987 Liu Zhou Wuling motor company (now a maker of the Spark for GM and its own minivans) imported an 1985 Citroen Visa into China (picture above). The goal? Complete copy and redesign for the Chinese market. Success? None. China Car Times doesnt ever recall seeing one on the roads, nor would he want to.
What the clone came out like:
Wuling totally cloned the Visa, except for under the hood. The original Visa used a 4 cylinder engine, Wuling used a 3 cylinder Diahatsu engine (probably from Xia Li) Production runs were very small, with only 50 of the Visa clones being built in 1991, 1992 saw a slight production expansion of 510 cars, in 1993 production dropped to a measly 95 and in the final year, 1994, production hit 246.
The Wuling had a top speed of 130kph, and did a rather high 6.9l per 100km out of the 1000cc motor.
More of the Wuling pictures.
Special thanks to the Citroen Club and Erik for the photos.
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If they were a bit smarter back then they could have copied something a bit better like a Toyota Corolla or Mazda 323(Familia). Even a MK2 Escort would have been a better choice….
Hello Ash, not cloned, but assembled from real parts (nobody knows how these crates showed up in China). The engines were missing, so Wuling used the 3-cylinder Daihatsu engines, yes you are correct, from Xiali.
Later I went back to Liuzhou to make better pictures (which I have in France, I am now in China), and I used some as taxis. In noticed than that some parts were also locally been made, like the side windows
Erik,
That must be nearly 1000 cars worth of parts, I wonder how they ended up here?
Enjoy the Guangzhou Show, I cant get down there this week
The Citroen Visa was in itself a pretty bad car. I remember my mother having one.
I spotted a Wuling clone tonight! It was battle hardened, and possibly illegally on the road, but it was still moving under its own power!