A true piece of Chinese automotive history is what we have here. This is a very early Geely Haoqing JL6360E1, seen on a car market in Beijing in 2012. The good Geely was in a reasonable shape for its age , with the original dark green paint and sporty 10-spoke wheels.
The Geely Haoqing-series was Geely’s second car, after the very-limited Geely Number 01. The Haoqing, also known as HQ, was based on the Tianjin Xiali, which in turn was based on the Daihatsu Charade. The Geely Haoqing debuted in 1998 and was made until 2006.
The ultra cool badge is ultra old. In full it should have said JL6360E1, which was the designation for the Haoqing hatchback. Power came from a 0.993 liter three-cylinder petrol engine, made in China but originally developed by Daihatsu. Output was 53 hp and 77 Nm. The motor was mated to a 4-speed manual, sending horses to the front wheels (later cars got a five-speed manual). Fuel consumption was 5.5 liters per 100 kilometers. Price of the JL6360E1 started at exactly 29.999 yuan in 2004, a very good deal for the time!
Characters: 中国 吉利, Zhongguo Jili, China Geely. In those days it was common for car makers to put ‘China’ in front of their brand names. Nanjing and FAW, to name just two, did it too.
The sticker is interesting. The little panda-like figurine is Jingjing, one of the Fuwa’s, the official mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Fuwa’s were unveiled in 2007 so we can assume this sticker dates from 2007 or 2008. Earlier on we saw a similar sticker with Huanhuan. Club.auto.sohu.com was a very popular car BBS at the time but it doesn’t exist anymore.
The license plate is likely as old as the car. The 京H·C3000 order and combination is very uncommon. It was likely originally a company-owned car. Grille is missing a bar and some more. Let’s hope it was repaired.
[table id=305 /]
One thought on “A Very Early Geely Haoqing JL6360E1 With A Special License Plate”