Lifan 520i – i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about


 

lifan 520 front Lifan 520i   i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about

Lifan showed the world what they’d been upto in their R&D dept at the Shanghai motor show, but since then news on the 520i has been rather limited. The Lifan 520 looked rather lonely in the Lifan one car line up, thus a hatchback, the Lifan 520i, has been added to the line up. This gives potential customers more of a choice, and to be honest, it looks pretty good! No official word on pricing yet, but we believe it will be between 50, and 70,000rmb with either a 1.3 or a 1.6 motor.

lifan520 b.thumbnail Lifan 520i   i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about  lifan520 a.thumbnail Lifan 520i   i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about lifan520 c interior 1.thumbnail Lifan 520i   i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about

Previously on China Car Times we posted that it would be priced between 50, and 80,000rmb, obviously no official pricing has been announced yet.

A point to note: Lifan tells us that they didnt successfully buy the BMW Tritec factory in Brazil, due to the Brazilian government not allowing them to move the entire factory to China, but they did buy the BMW 1.6 engine, Lifan used this engine for a length of time before they developed their own series of engines, presumably based around the acquired BMW technology. Lifan has already created a Euro 5 spec engine, and may well go headlong into the European market.

ash 010 web avatar Lifan 520i   i is for independence, 520i spotted out and about

Ash

Ash came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car industry develop. He has witnessed the market change from being minor backyard market in to the world's biggest and most important market for all car manufacturers. You can contact or connect with him via Linkedin by clicking the 'Website' link.

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10 Comments so far, please add your thoughts!

  1. avatar Harry says:

    Well done Lifan! The similarities between this company and Honda of long ago are downright frightening. Lifan is definitely going places because unlike many other Chinese companies, they have a very strong emphasis on quality. I’ll bet they’re going to get the first Chinese car on the market in Europe with a decent Euro NCAP safety rating.

    I’d love to work for these guys – maybe help them get into the US market… If only Ashley had a contact with them… (*cough cough, ahem, wink, cough*)

  2. avatar Harry says:

    I’m sure we’ll be in touch. :)

    Overall, a solid effort, but I noticed a few areas where the car needs some work. First, the rear is nothing to shout about, and the taillights probably ought to look a little more similar to the sedan’s. Second, what is going on behind the C pillar? It looks like they forgot to include that last little bit of window originally and cut it out with a Swiss Army knife after the fact. It’s most noticeable in the rear 3/4 shot. Take a look at for example.

  3. avatar Mememe says:

    I hope Lifan will achieve what they want to achieve, but Euro 5 spec engine is not enough, they will need to pass the Euro Ncap.

  4. avatar Harry says:

    It did fine in the R-94 test, it should be alright in the Euro NCAP one.

  5. avatar kenny talabi says:

    Please can i buy the lifan car i m intrested in buying but not to sure of the quality i was told the engine is compatible with toyota how true is that

  6. avatar Michael 1963 says:

    From Italy:
    Io personalmente non ho nulla contro le auto cinesi. Mi reputo un grande appassionato di auto ed anche abbastanza competente e benchè sia in possesso attualmente di una Jaguar, che uso come auto personale, e di altre 3 auto europee che usiamo in famiglia, non disdegno la possibilità di poter acquistare un giorno una vettura cinese. La cosa che però detesto, e pertanto non potrei mai acquistare, sono i cosiddetti “cloni”, ossia quelle auto scopiazzate più o meno malamente dalla produzione europea e prodotte in Cina con nomi fantasiosi. Vanno bene le cinesi, purchè abbiano uno stile proprio, anche se ancora poco fantasioso, ma con una propria personalità, come ad esempio la Great Wall “Hoover”, che pur non brillando per originalità, ha una propria dignità stilistica e tecnica.

  7. avatar walid says:

    سيارةرائعة

  8. avatar johnny hughes says:

    Hi a Lifan 5201 1.3, 4 door saloon imported to uk first reg in july 07 maybe in china ,not uk ,can i register it in uk and last thing what is it worth ,thanks johnny

  9. avatar German David says:

    En Colombia estamos inundados de Chevorlet, Hyundai, Kia y Renault. La calidad es el primer argumento al momento de comprar un auto, sin embargo he notado que el 50% o mas de las partes de estas marcas son chinas así que la calidad no esta siendo bien ponderada.

    Tengo un Lifan 520i hatchback y en comparación con las marcas en cuestión puede estar por encima gracias a sus sistemas de seguridad, frenos air bags, es full equipo y su línea aerodinamica.

    excelente…

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