A SouEast Veryca mini MPV, seen in China’s capital Beijing in 2019. The fine little van was in a fine shape, painted in white with steel wheels and some slight damage on the front bumper.
The SouEast Veryca was a China-made version of the fifth generation China Motor Corporation (CMC) Veryca. CMC is one of Taiwan’s largest car makers.
Production of the CMC Veryca started in 1978. It was originally based on the Mitsubishi Minicab but later generations incorporated more of CMC’s own development and design.
Production of the SouEast Veryca in China started in late 2005 under a licensing agreement between CMC and China’s SouEeast Motor (东南汽车). The Chinese name was Lingli (菱利).
The Veryca is a cool looking vehicle with a short nose and large bumpers. An interesting design detail is the shape of the rear lights. It isn’t a single light unit but two separate ones, with the indicator on top and the light/brake lights/reverse light below. The fog lights is located below the bumper.
At the time, it was obligatory for commercial vehicles to have their maximum number of occupants painted on the doors. The Veryca was classified as a commercial vehicle so it needed to have this too. The idea was that a government officer, like a police man, could easily spot if a vehicle was breaking the law by having to many folks inside. The Veryca has a maximum occupancy of 5 persons including the driver. The characters are 准乘5人 (zhun cheng 5 ren), best translated as ‘norm [for] ride 5 people’. More on these sometimes complicated regulations here and here.
The SouEast Veryca came with super hip Veryca decals. Most Veryca’s that I have seen had these decals in purple, just like on this one.
In China, the Veryca was available with two China-made Mitsubishi four-cylinder petrol engines: a 1.3 with 85 hp/108 Nm and a 1.6 with 100 hp/133 Nm. Both engines met the then-valid Euro III emission standard. The 1.3 models were designated DN6403L3 and the 1.6 models DN6402L3. Gearbox was always a 5-speed manual.
There were four trim levels: 1.6 Luxury, 1.6 Comfort, 1.3 Comfort, and 1.3 Basic. Price of the SouEast Veryca (2005) started at 59.800 yuan and ended at 79.800 yuan. The car we have here today is the very basic 1.3 Basic.
The interior was dirty and messy, and the plastics had been exposed to the sunshine for a little too long. The owner had added seat covers, a steering wheel cover is fake-wood color, and a cool radio MP3 player with a tiny screen. The gear lever is huge, betraying the car’s commercial-vehicle roots.
There were two seats up front and a bench for three in the back. The rest was for luggage or load. Size of the Veryca: 4025/1560/1950, with a 2610 millimeter wheelbase and a curb weight of 1210 kg.
Round reflectors on the far end on each side of the bumper.
Characters: 东南菱利，Dongnan Lingli, SouEast Veryca.
Fuzzily, Dongnan literally means East (东) South (南). China does compass directions the other way around, so east-south is actually south-east, west-north is north-west, and so on. This can be rather confusing but after a while you’ll remember it.
Back then, it was still obligatory for car makers to have the full designation on the car, either with a badge of, like here, with a sticker. DN stands for Dongnan.
This beauty of a Mitsubishi Power sticker sat on every Veryca and on some other Mitsubishi-powered SouEast cars. The characters are 三菱动力, Sanling Dongly, and that means Mitsubishi Power.
Note the empty, or ‘closed’, light place holders in the bumper. High-end versions had fancy fog lights there.
The SouEast Veryca was a very popular mini MPV in China’s smaller cities and down countryside, mainly used for all sorts of people moving, and many are still around. But in mega-cities like Beijing they have always been rare and today very few are still on the road.