A very pretty Chery QQ3, seen in Beijing back in 2010. The good QQ3 was in perfect shape and looked ultra clean. In the early QQ years, Chery offered several funky colors on the QQ3, like bright red and this great froggy green.
The original Chery QQ3 (S11) debuted in 2003 and was made all the way until 2012. The origins of the design remain a bit unclear. It is known that Chery bought the blueprints for the Daewoo Matiz from Daewoo when that company was near-bankrupt.
Then, Daewoo was sold to General Motors, which used the Matiz design for the Chevrolet Spark, which was essentially the same car as the Chery QQ3. Naturally, GM was not amused when the QQ3 was unveiled. But whether Chery did something illegal has long been debated, inside and outside of court. So far, Chery has never been convicted of anything, anywhere.
Note the Volkswagen license plate frame. Chery didn’t completely use the Matiz’ design. The Chinese developed a new front, a new rear, and a new interior. When launched in 2003 it caused somewhat of a revolution in China. Here was an affordable small car that could yet carry a family, and it even looked nice. Chery made a lot of that, calling the QQ3 “cute” in their marketing and advertisements.
The QQ3 we have here is a QQ 308 AMT. Looking at trim and wheels and color it seems to be a very early model, 2003-2005 or therewhereabout. Power came from a 0.8 liter 3-cylinder petrol engine, good for 52 hp and 70 Nm. Horses went to the front wheels via a 5-speed automatic. This was quite impressive for the time, as competing small cars, if they were available with automatic ‘boxes at all, usually only came with four gears. Top speed was a decent 130 km/h. Price in 2004 for the QQ 308 AMT was 49.800 yuan, an absolute steal. The Chery QQ3 is a strong car and even now many of these oldies are still around.
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