The Zhanqi was made by Beijing Auto Works (BAW), at the time still part of the Beijing Auto Industrial Corporation. Production started in 2005 and lasted all the way to 2019. It was based on an even older vehicle, the BAW BJ212, which was launched in 1965 and is still in production today. Zhangqi (战旗) means ‘Battle Flag’.
Over the many years of production, BAW made dozens and dozens of variants of the Zhanqi: soft-top 3-door, soft-top 5-door, hardtop 3, hardtop 5, long-wheelbase, short-wheelbase, wagons, pickup trucks with 2/4 doors, many military versions, you name it.
Even in 2017, just two years before production ended, I found 8 different Zhanqi variants on sale at a BAW shop in Beijing. The variant we have here today is a BJ2033CHB1; a four-door soft-top version produced around 2015. It was positioned a little more upmarket than the base cars.
The interior had a dashboard that actually looked designed, with a wide center stack and a real instrument binnacle. The seats were nice too, twin-color faux leather. But you can easily see the car’s humble origins on the simple gear lever and the large truck-like steering wheel.
Power came from a 2.0 liter petrol engine with an output of 102 hp and 178 Nm. The engine was mated to a five-speed manual gearbox sending horses to all wheels. These great cars were very cheap. In 2015, a brand new Zhanqi BJ2033CHB1 sold for just 62.700 yuan! A total bargain for so much cool.