A fine Daewoo Lanos SE sedan, seen in Beijing back in 2016. The ‘Woo was in a fine overall shape, with slightly faded paint, small dents and dusts, and fitted with the original five-spoke wheels. The license plate was as old as the car. The ‘Q’ means this was, and perhaps still is, a company owned car.
The Daewoo Lanos was made from 1997 until 2002 in sedan and hatchback (3 and 4 doors) forms. It was independently developed by Daewoo, which invested a steep 420 million US dollars in the project, with some of that money going to Pininfarina for the design. The Italian studio did a nice job, the Lanos was a fine looking car inside and out. It was stylish and modern, really a Daewoo that didn’t look like a Daewoo.
The interior was basically okay. But the color of the black plastics was fading all over. The owner fitted fake leather sear covers, a very thick steering wheel cover, and a real table ash-tray for the smokes. It seems that this particular car didn’t have a factory ash tray. Odd.
The Lanos was available with 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 liter petrol engines, mated to a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. SE was the second-lowest trim level, coming after the S and before the SE Plus, SX, and Sport.
The Daewoo Lanos sedan was officially sold in China as an import, where it competed with locally made cars like the FAW-Volkswagen Jetta and the Dongfeng-PSA Citroen Fukang ZX. Only engine option was a 1.5 petrol with 86 hp, mated to the manual ‘box. Price started at 150.000 yuan. The Chinese name of the Lanos was 蓝龙, Lanlong, and that means blue dragon.
The yellow sticker intrigues both me and my wife, who is Chinese. It says “我就是干掉熊猫国宝”, Wǒ jiùshì gàndiào xióngmāo guóbǎo, best translated as: “I just killed the panda, the national treasure”. This refers to the giant panda as the national animal of China. The wife thinks it is just a ‘look at me being cool’ sticker. I tend to agree.
The Mul-T-Lock badge refers to one of the largest lock-making companies in the world, Mul-T-Lock of Israel, owned by Assa Abloy of Sweden. In period, many cars had this badge on their backs, so apparently car makers, or their dealers, considered these locks a special selling point.
Even now the Lanos is a pretty car with a timeless design. Change a few details and it is good to go even today. They proved to be strong as well, back in 2016 it was still a common sight on the road, but nowadays they are quite rare. May some survive!
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