A Xiali sedan, seen in Beijing in 2011. The Xiali looked great in gray and was dressed up with mud flaps, darkened windows, window-wind deflectors, a spoiler on the boot lid, and a bunch of stickers.
‘Xiali’ was the name of a series of hatchbacks and sedans based on the Daihatsu Charade. Daihatsu licensed the design to Tianjin-FAW, a subsidiary of First Auto Works (FAW) based in the city of Tianjin. Production in China started in 1988 and lasted until 2012. The car we have here is a 2006-2011 Xiali sedan.
Is it a Cadillac?
Any Xiali is cool but this one is extra so. Check out that spoiler, with an integrated brake light! The 2006-2011 Xiali sedan could be had with two gasoline engines: a 1.0 liter 3-pot with 53 hp and 77 Nm or a 1.4 liter four with 86 h and 110 Nm. Both engines were mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
Our gray Xiali has the 1.0 under the bonnet. This was originally a Daihatsu engine, part of the licensing agreement. Tianjin-FAW also sold this engine to many other Chinese automakers. Price of the 1.0 sedan in 2011 started at an almost unbelievably cheap 34.800 yuan.
Characters: left: 天津一汽 = Tianjin-FAW. Right: 夏利 1.0, Xiali 1.0. On the right of the license plate a nice red ‘Beijing 2008’ sticker, for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Around the license plate a Disney-themed ‘Good luck to you’ license plate frame. These were very popular in the 2010’s.