BAW Knight S12 Is A Chinese Continuation Of The Jeep Cherokee XJ

A BAW Knight S12, seen in Beijing in 2017, parked perfectly on the sidewalk. The brave Knight was a bit dusty but was otherwise in a fine shape. The Knight S12 was manufactured by BAW, or Beijing Auto Works, it was a continuation of the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ.

BAW logo.

The Cherokee XJ was made by the Beijing-Jeep joint venture from 1984 until 2009. ‘Beijing’ is short for Beijing Auto Industry Corporation, abbreviated BAIC. BAW was a subsidiary of BAIC.

When production at the joint venture ended in 2009, BAIC got to keep the tooling and the rights to make the Cherokee for the Chinese market, but they didn’t get the rights to the engines.

BAIC moved the Cherokee to the BAW brand and changed the name to Knight. Production of the Knight started in 2009. In 2011 BAW launched an updated version, which was called the Knight S12, and that is the car we have here.

One might think that this S12 lost its rear wheel covers. But that’s wrong. It came like this from the factory! An odd way to save a bit of money perhaps.

The super cool Knight S12 badge on the front fender.

The interior was seriously updated by BAW, featuring a new dashboard, center stack, center tunnel, door panels, and seats. The seat covers are after-market.

As BAIC didn’t get the Jeep engines they had to come up with new motors for the Knight. They found them at Brilliance Automotive. This is a large car maker from Shenyang, best known for the Brilliance and Jinbei brands, and for their joint venture with BMW.

But Brilliance also make engines for other car makers in China. BAIC went for two four-cylinder petrol engines: the 4G20D4 2.0 with 122 hp and 180 Nm and the 4G22D4 2.2 with 141 hp and 205 Nm. Both engines were mated to a 5-speed manual. The 2.0 was rear-wheel drive, the 2.2 real-wheel or four-wheel drive.

Price for the BAW Knight S12 2.0 started at a very decent 78.800 yuan in 2011, which was about the same as you paid for a locally made Changan-Suzuki Swift.

The BAW badge. Characters read 北京汽车, Beijing Qiche, Beijing Auto, short for Beijing Auto Industry Corporation.

骑士 S12, Qishi S12, Knight S12.

The area were the S12 was parked was under development, with new high-rises popping up everywhere. People had just moved in into the buildings on the right. In those new areas nobody really cares about anything and there usually isn’t much police or cameras, so folks can park their cars wherever they want. The Q in the license plate indicates this Knight S12 is company-owned.

Sadly, the Knight S12 wasn’t a very big success and production ended in 2013, so these are pretty rare nowadays!

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