Check this red beauty out! Here we have another Skoda Forman LX station wagon, seen on a car market in the far east of Beijing in 2007. The Skoo’d was in a pretty good shape but the body panels has lost some of their color.
The Skoda Forman was made from 1990 until 1995. It was a five-door wagon based on the Bertone-designed Skoda Favorit hatchback. In some markets, including the U.K., it was called the Favorit Estate. The Favorit/Forman was the last Skoda without any input from Volkswagen, which bought the company in 1995.
The small Skoda proved to be a popular car, selling very well in central and eastern Europe. There were exports to various far-away countries like Argentina, Israel, and to China. Exports to China were based on good old commie-style government-to-government barter deals. Quite a few of these Forman’s served as taxi’s in China, mostly at railway stations.
LX was a trim level. All Forman’s in China were LX. Power came from a 1.3 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 54-68 hp, depending on exact specification. Torque varies less; from 93 Nm to 100. Gearbox was a five-speed manual.
This particular red example has a very old blue 京A license plate, indicating it was one of the first privately registered cars. This registration included cars for private use as well as for private-company use. Considering the red color, this Skoda may have been a taxi before. Note the super long antenna on the roof! Car in the background is an early Geely.
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