An Audi A5 Cabriolet, seen in Beijing in 2013. The good Audi is wrapped in a universe wrap. These were very popular in the late 2000’s in China. They showed the entire universe in brilliant colors. Any martian would be able to point out his/her planet. License plates are of Tianjin Municipality.
The wrap is of a high quality and is neatly applied over the whole car, including the bumpers, A-pillars, mirrors, door handles, and even on the alloy wheels. That indeed is a proper wrapping job. The windows are darkened and the roof is as black as deep space. There was an URL on the door. Considering the name it likely once was a car accessories website, but today it is a streaming site that doesn’t seem to have much car connections.
The first generation Audi A5 Cabriolet was made from 2009 until 2015 with updates in 2011 and 2013. Our Beijing car is an original pre-updates example. The pre-update Cabriolet wasn’t officially sold in China, but some cars arrived via the gray market and other misty channels, but they are quite rare. Audi started selling the A5 Cabriolet officially in 2013.
In the background a dusty BLAC truck loaded with construction materials. BLAC was a Beijing-based truck maker with a complex history. I’ll discuss it later when I post a BLAC spot.
In front of the Audi a Smart ForTwo. It was officially sold in China but it didn’t really catch on. Chinese consumers considered it too expensive for what is was. They should have build it locally. Anyway, Smart is half Chinese now, and they are making the Smart #1 in China indeed, but that is a big SUV instead of a cool city car.