A very rare Shanghai Maple Hisoon Sports, a sporty variant of Hisoon hatchback. The body kit, wheels, black, grille, and ultra odd chrome piece on the bonnet were all factory standard!
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Shanghai Maple Automotive was founded in 1999. Production started in 2002 with the Hisoon. It was an odd mix of car, with a body looking very much like a Citroen ZX, and powered by engines sourced from Geely, which in turn were based on older Toyota engines.
How Shanghai Maple got the body has never become clear. Some say they simply copied the Citroen ZX. Others say they bought the body parts from the very same suppliersthat supplied Dongfeng-PSA, which manufactured the ZX for the Chinese market. Both ways are entirely possible, and it could have been some sort of mixture as well.
From 2002 until 2010 the company rolled out dozens of variants based on the Hisoon; hatchback and sedan, basic and luxurious, but they never went beyond that.
In 2006 Shanghai Maple and Geely signed a joint venture for the manufacturing of the Chinese version of the Manganese Bronze Holding TX4 taxi under Geely’e Englon brand.
At the time, Geely had bough a majority share in the famous London taxi maker. In 2008 Geely bought Shanghai Maple in its entirety, and in 2013 they bought the rest of Magnameze Bronze.
After 2008 Geely slowly phased out Maple’s own products, replacing them with Geely-developed cars. The last ‘real’ Shanghao Maple rolled off the line in 2010.
The Hisoon Sport arrived in 2005. It sure looked the business, with a factory body kit, a large roof spoiler, black cladding over the sides, and sporty five-spoke alloys.
The dashboard layout was largely a copy/clone of the Citroen ZX as well. This particular example had an ultra cool SMA-branded radio!
The Hysoon Sport was powered by a Geely-sourced 1.5 liter four-cylinder petrol engine, good for 92 hp and 128 Nm. The engine was mated to a 5-speed manual, sending horses to the front wheels. Top speed was 130 km/h. Size: 4435/1710/1430, wheelbase 2540.
Production of the Sport continued all the way until 2009. Price then started at 50.880 yuan and ended at 53.880 yuan. And that made it one of the cheapest compact four-door family cars on the market.
The ‘light units’ on the D-pillar are not real, just decoration, but they…
… look kinda cool.
Badge time:
Shanghai Huapu, original Chinese for Shanghai Maple.
The SMA badge.
Haixun, original Chinese for Hisoon.
SMA7150E4 was the full designation of the vehicle. In those days it was normal to have the full designation on a badge on the car, either on the back or on the front fender.
In the end, the Hisoon Sport is just a footnote in China’s automotive history, but thanks to that chrome piece on the bonnet we will never forget it.