Earlier this year at the Beijing Auto Show Haima showed off a concept named ‘Yao’, after months of seeing the ‘Yao’ road testing around China getting acclimatized to different weather conditions we can say the car is ready to hit the production lines. A pre-production model was recently spotted outside a hotel in Southern China.

On the surface the Yao looks like a solid sedan with a very unique design, whilst other manufacturers have looked to existing designs for inspiration the Yao appears to be a unique design and could be the start of a turning point for Haima, whom until so far have relied on refining older Mazda models to meet their needs. According to reports, the Yao sedan uses a new 1.8T engine developed in house by Haima and also uses independent suspension at all four wheels, which should make for an interesting ride. Usually Chinese manufacturers opt for the cheaper and easier to make torsion beam suspension on their compact sedans.

We can imagine a Guangzhou Auto Show launch for this car next month followed by a possible on sale date in December or January to meet the pre Chinese New Year car rush.