Sichuan Yema use Austin Maestro platform to make Kia Sportage, Audi A3 and Honda CRV clones

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Remember Sichuan Yema? They bought the Austin Maestro platform from FAW who bought it from the Qingdao based ETsong Tobacco Company when they decided to get into the car making game when cig sales started going south, of course they bought it from a Bulgarian firm who bought it from MG-Rover. Those Austin Maestro toolings and molds have certainly been around the block a few times but that has not stopped Sichuan Yema from putting them to good use in their first model, the F99.

From the F99 Sichuan Yema have designed the F10, F11 and F12 which are essentially the same car as the F99 albeit with a different face and minor updates to the front and rear. Engine power will come from the same Toyota derived 1.5L engine that Etsong put into the Maestro when they took over ownership of the IPR for Britain’s greatest hatchback, sadly the talking dashboard never made it into the Chinese versions of the Maestro.

Interestingly, former Nanjing-MG man, Zhang Xin, who was in control of the MG project when it came from the UK to China is now in control at Sichuan Yema, obviously the appeal of building old British Cars was clearly too much for this man.