At the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year it was thought that Lifan were on their last legs with a meager auto show presence, but now it appears that Lifan have found their new wind and are planning to launch three new cars in 2011.
Over the course of 2010, Lifan have been working on new technology and research and development of new cars including their new RAV4 inspired SUV, 2011 will see the launch of the said SUV and also the Lifan 720 whilst on the engine front Lifan are …

The rumors of who Subaru are planning to work with in the Chinese market to build a new joint venture partnership are getting out of hand, first it was Ford’s partner in JMC, then BAIC, SAIC, FAW, and a whole host of other acronym-ed named auto makers, the latest to be added to this list is Chongqing’s own Lifan.
Lifan are currently making the 320, 520 and 520 models for the Chinese market, and has its own engine range. Its not entirely clear what Lifan might bring to Subaru that Subaru …

Lifan is a Chongqing based automotive producer, a relative minnow even in China and mostly sells to its local area i.e. Sichuan, Chongqing, and Yunnan, meaning you rarely see them along the highly developed east coast of China were cars from JV producers are favored.
Lifan’s current line up is made up of the tiny 320, the 520 and the 620 as well as a recently announced SUV, but the icing on their cake might be their forthcoming sports car. Although still at the rendering stage, and not even approaching concept …

Lifan might be a small auto player when compared to other giants like BYD and Geely, as their sales are only 60,000 units per year, but Lifan are a strong auto maker in their local market of Chongqing and South West China where their cars are quite popular due to strong local support. Lifan might lack sales volume, but they make up for it in vision, they are one of the stronger car exporters in China and also have some interesting plans for selling electric cars in 2010.
Lifan’s CEO, Mr. …

Australia has become an unusual beach head in the spread of Chinese cars into the West with Greatwall, Geely, and with Chery and Lifan expecting to join the fray soon according to this article from news.drive.com.au:
Fledgling Chinese car brand Lifan will soon sell cars in Australia and could eventually assemble cars locally.
The small Chinese car manufacturer Lifan Motors has revealed it is considering local assembly as a strategy to gain better sales acceptance in Australia.
The Chongqing-based company is currently in negotiation with several potential …

Lifan Auto are located in what is being called The Chinese Detroit due to its massive car producing industry, which is mostly due to Chang’an but Lifan are doing very well with their car and especially motorbike production.
Over the past few years it seems that Lifan have almost stalled with their car plans, and appear content on selling what they have already developed, which is made up of the Lifan 320, 520, 620 and the new SUV (below). The Lifan range  was out in force at the Beijing Auto Show, …

Lifan’s first SUV is preparing to launch at the Beijing Auto Show where it will no doubt prove a hit with consumers in second and third tier cities. Lifan has already proven itself to be a big seller to second and third tier cities where its vehicles are welcomed due to their low prices and fuel economy, Lifan do appear to be following the same strategy as their motorbike development which started by selling to outlaying rural areas rather than focusing on the cities.
The SUV itself was originally written up …

From Reauters:
SHANGHAI, July 30 (Reuters) – Lifan Group, one of China’s biggest motorcycle makers which is diversifying into car production, aims for an initial public offering in Shanghai this year, raising as much as 3 billion yuan ($439 million), sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.
Lifan, partly owned by an American International Group Inc (AIG.N) affiliate, is joining the expanding ranks of mainland IPO candidates eager to tap investor interest amid a bull-run in the benchmark stock index .SSEC, which has jumped more than 80 percent so far this …

The Chinese central government is pushing for the Chinese auto giants to merge, and become more centralized. It is obvious that many small players are not big or strong enough individually to confidently walk onto the world stage. Beijing Auto Works, with its seat in the nations political center, is flush with cash from it’s sucesful joint ventures with Mercedes, and Hyundai, and is therefore very eager to become a large player in the Chinese auto arena.
Media reports early this afternoon indicate that BAW are moving in to buy …

Lifan are eager to get into the super cheap mini van segment that is mostly controlled by local rivals Chang’an. The below pictures show what Lifan have in store:
It’s possible that Lifan wont be awfully succesful in the first year of launch, but its worth remembering that Lifan are extremely succesful in the South Asian motorbike segment, so they could be set to launch this van there, and reap the rewards of a virgin market that relies mostly on new and second hand Japanese vans for its needs.
On the …

The first Lifan developed SUV is expected to be produced in China before the end of the year at a Lifan factory in Inner Mongolia.
The Lifan SUV is expected to c ost between 50,000 and 100,000rmb. An addition of a 1.8L engine is expected to follow the 1.6L Tritec engine.

Spy pictures of the Lifan 720 were leaked onto Sohu’s motoring portal yesterday, the picture, that looks liket it was taken on a cellphone during a meeting, appears to show a large luxury style sedan, that is rumoured to be the Lifan 720, or for those cynical ones amongst us, a cloned Honda Accord.

 
Lifan previously came under attack for its rather MINI-like Lifan 320.

According to Chinese media reports, Lifan Automobile, are planning to get into the manufacturing of own brand minivans or breadvans as they are known in China, due to their shape (they look like a loaf of bread).
Lifan are going to invest 1 billion RMB into the new factory, which will be have a total area of 6000 square meters and will produce between 150,000 to 200,000 vehicles per year.
Lifans recent plans for expansion are being funded by their partnership with American Insurance Group (AIG) which will see the …

The Lifan duo, the 620 and the miniature 320 are expected to launch later this year in June and August respectively.

The Lifan 320 (below) is capable of travelling 100km on 4.8l of fuel, which is not bad at all, and will more than likely be popular with younger people who are style and price aware.

 
It seems that most small Chinese super minis have been branded as being ‘knock offs’ or ‘clones’ of existing designs, and the Lifan 320 wasnt any different. The 320 is Lifans latest mini car that plans to hit the market running later this year. The 320 has since been labelled the Chinese MINI for its MINI-like looks, other people say it looks like an ancient Daihatsu model. Who knows?Chinese motoring magazines are predicting the mini motor will be on sale by August 2008 for less than 50,000rmb with a 1.1l …

More information, and pictures on the Lifan 320 have been leaked out onto the net! The Lifan 320, aka ‘The Chinese Mini’ as it has been christened by the Chinese media! Specifications have also been released

Can carry 5 adults
Top speed is 155kph
Euro 5 specification
1.3l engine, 16v, 4 cylinder, front wheel drive
4.89l of fuel, per 100km
5 speed manual gearbox
Size: Length: 3745mm Width: 1620mm Height: 1430mm
Expected to go on the market in August 2008, priced at less than 50,000rmb

More news on the 320 as we get it, we would …

Lifan look to be heading down the road that BYD went down – make a good looking car, make it safe, make it cheap, mass produce it, and sell thousands per month! The Lifan 620 looks to have been going through internal crash testing prior to launch later this year.

 Pictures of the dashboard were also shown off:
 
 Details on the 1.8 engine that will find a home in the Lifan 620 have been released. The 1.8L VVT engine was designed by Lifan in cooperation with Ricardo and gives …

Our previous article on the Lifan SUV was pretty brief, as the information to hand at the time was rather limited. The previous Lifan rendering was very similar to the Chery Tiggo, which in turn was very similar to the previous generation Toyota RAV4. The latest rendering of the Lifan SUV (left) shows that Lifan designers have been busy reshaping the Lifan SUV into something that appears to be more unique rather than inspired or copied from other parties.
According to the motoring press, Lifan could be taking their SUV into …

The Lifan 320 made a splash on the internet when it was unveiled, every corner of the internet had pictures of the 320. Some people say its a clone of the MINI, other say its closer to the Daihatsu Sirion.

The 320 will have a 1342cc engine and will see production towards the middle of the year, and be on the market by July.

Auto Express writers appear to be the luckiest of all, paid trips to China to drive around in cars! Theres a job we would like, or do we already have that job?The AutoExpress article mentions that the Lifan 520 is based off ancient Citroen ZX underpinnings, whilst China Car Times is unsure if this true or not, we only found one Citroen fan club website that says it is illegally based.
Click continue reading to read the review from Autoexpress.co.uk

One of our readers, Mr. Schwartz, kindly sent us his company write up of Lifan Automotive. Mr. Schwartz used China Car Times as a resource when writing about Lifan, and found a wealth of information which translated into a decent article about Lifan.

The soon to be launched Lifan 620 has already had a minor face change for the top of the range models.

The Lifa 620 ‘big mouth’ edition is being sold by Lifan as the most luxurious car they make, with it having a full leather interior (including steering wheel) and other extras as standard such as reversing sensors, ABS and EBD. Buyers of Lifan cars should expect excellent service with the latest 5 year, or 100,000km free servicing.

Lifan are planning to boost their range with three new cars in 2008, the Lifan 620 and the Lifan 520i are already well known on China Car Times, the Lifan 320 has made a brief appearence, but we have yet to find out more from Lifan on that model. One other model that we believe they are working on right now is a Lifan SUV.

The Lifan SUV is expected to debut by the end of 2008 – info on the SUV is few and fair between, however, we believe that …

Lifan are keen to show that they are not just a one stop copy shop, unlike some other Chinese car makers, they have shown that they are willing to take a step back, and design a completely new car from scratch (inc engines) and set up distribution networks with superior service across the country.
Lifan recently sent us these drawings of their Lifan 520 sedan, and Lifan 520i hatchback development. Both the hatchback and the sedan use the same platform and the same engines.

520i Clay Model:

According to reports, Lifan has …