A Brilliance Junjie FRV, as seen in Beijing back in 2016. The Brilliance was in good shape, painted in a vague shade of silver blue with slightly darkened windows and the factory standard alloy wheels.
Under the old system, diplomatic license plates in the capital Beijing started with the character 使 (shi) in red, short for 大使馆 dashiguan, meaning embassy. Each embassy has its 3-digit number. In this case, the number is 261, which stands for Liberia.
The next three digits are the car number. The ambassador’s official car is always 001, but there are no specific rules for the other numbers, and plates may be carried over from car to car. Our Brilliance Junjie FRV has car number 012, which means that the license plate, when it was issued, was for the 12th car used by the Liberian embassy.
The current diplomatic license plates look different; the character 使 has moved to the end of the license plate.
The Brilliance Junjie FRV was a nice-looking small family hatchback, with wide wheel arches and black window frames. It was designed by the Italian design studio Italdesign Giugiaro. The Junjie FRV, also known as BS2, was produced from 2008 until 2013, with a facelift in 2010. The car we have here is a post-facelift example. Brilliance also sold a sporty Junjie FRV Cross and a sedan version called the Junjie FSV.
The interior was nice for the segment, with sporty round dials and a gray center stack. The radio CD player was standard. The steering wheel is notably large. The owner added purple seat covers to protect the original faux-leather seats. The front side windows have roll-down curtains.
The rear bench is covered too. The floor mats are after-market as well. Check the door upholstery for what happens if you don’t properly protect your car in Beijing: it gets dirty with dust!
The post-facelift Junjie FRV was available with two naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engines: a 1.3 with 88 hp and 120 Nm mated to a five-speed manual, and a 1.5 with 102 hp and 135 Nm mated to a five-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.
The first two characters are 华晨 (Huáchén), or Brilliance. In China, this is the name of the group company, but elsewhere in the world, it is used as the brand name. The second two characters are 中华 (Zhōnghuá), which is an alternative name for China (the country). Zhonghua is the brand name in China. This is as confusing as it sounds, and in its advertising, the company mixed things up now and then.
Characters: 骏捷, Jùnjié.
The Brilliance Junjie FRV was a nice little hatchback and it sold pretty well. Sadly, it was not enough to save the company. Brilliance had long been plagued by infighting and a messy ownership structure. This led to a lack of new-car development and sales went down hard in the late 2010s. In 2020 it was all over and the company went bankrupt. Fortunately, there should be enough parts left to keep this Junjie FRV on the road for a few years more.