Back in 2012 I paid a visit to a Chery dealer in Beijing. I visited lots of dealers in those days for various consultancy jobs I had. I didn’t always have enough time to take photos but that day I was really happy to see this pretty Chery Cowin 2 liftback sedan. It was painted in black with a gray interior, fitted with the factory standard five-spoke sporty alloys.
The interior was very basic with lots of gray fabric and plastics. But it looked well-put together and kind of nice. The Chery Cowin 2 was in many ways a great automotive survivor. It was originally based on the first generation Seat Toledo .
Chery bought the production line from Seat and shipped it to China. In 1999 production in China began under the Chery A11 Fulwin name. The Chinese name was Fengyun. In 2010 the car got a large update and was renamed Chery A15 Cowin 2. The Chinese name was Qiyun 2. Production continued until 2016.
Basic design remained the same throughout the entire production time of the Seat Toledo and Chery Fulwin/Cowin. Given that production of the Mk1 Toledo started in 1991, the total combined production time was 25 years! Seat sold many older designs to Chinese car makers. See more at ChinaCarHistory.com.
In 2012, price of the Chery Cowin 2 started at an almost unbelievable 47.800 yuan, making it the cheapest compact 5-seat sedan on the market at the time. Power came from a 1.5 liter ‘SQR477F’ four-cylinder petrol engine, good for an output of 109 hp and 140 Nm. The motor was mated to a five-speed manual. Top speed was 160 km/h and fuel consumption a decent 4.3 liters per 100 kilometers. I always thought this old Chery aged well!
On the same shop was this Chery E5 sedan, with a nice red dealer decoration. The Chery E5 was manufactured from 2006 until 2010. It was then replaced by the Chery Cowin 3, which was basically a facelifted E5. Production of the Cowin 3 ended in 2013. At that time, the good old Cowin 2 still had 3 years to go!
The Chery E5 came with a modern and attractive interior. Still a lot of gray plastics but quality was good, and the faux-leather beige seats looked luxurious. The center stack even came with a small ‘screen’ for the radio/CD player. The 2012 Chery E5 was available with two power trains: a 1.5 mated to a 5-speed manual and a 1.8 mated to a CVT, which is the car we have here.
The 1.8 had an output of 132 hp and 170 Nm, good for a 185 km/h top speed. Fuel consumption was 8.6 liter per 100 kilometers, which was quite a lot for a car of its size. For comparison, the 1.5 only used 6.3 liters/100 km. Price of the 1.8 liter model in 2012 started at 78.800 yuan. Nice car and all, but I’d go for the…
… brilliant Chery Cowin 2.
One thought on “Chery Cowin 2 And Chery E5 At The Dealer In China”