Back in the spring of 2010, I went to the great Chinese megacity of Chongqing for work. When I had time off, I went out to check cars. Not far from the banks of the Yangtze River, I bumped into a flock of Chinese police cars. The vehicles were unattended, just how I liked it, so I had a good look around.
Beijing-Jeep 2500
The Jeep 2500 was a variant of the China-made Cherokee XJ, manufactured by the Beijing-Jeep joint venture. I owned one of those too, a 1998 City Special. The 2500 model was made from 2003 until 2006. It looks great in police livery, fitted with the original five-spoke sporty alloy wheels and a large police light bar on the roof.
In China, most vehicles operated by law enforcement have white license plates. Lots of characters here. Let’s start with the license plate. The black character is 渝 (Yú), an old and short name for Chongqing. Every car registered in Chongqing has 渝 as the first character on its license plate. The red character is 警 (jǐng), short for 警察 (jǐngchá, police). On the hood the full name of the police: 警察 (jǐngchá).
Chongqing is a major municipality located in the mountains in central China. It is one of the largest cities in the world. Today, the urban area has a population of about 17 million. Back in 2010, that was about 11 million folks. The city lies at the junction of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. It was my first time to visit the city and I loved it. Wherever you went, you had to climb up or down, a short distance on the map could be forever in reality. The city was booming even then, with lots of inland river trade going on, and entire districts under construction in the suburbs.
Shanghai Volkswagen Santana Vista
The Volkswagen Santana Vista looked good in white police livery too, especially with the darkened windows. The light bar seems the same as on the Jeep 2500, and the wheel covers are factory original.
The Santana Vista was a China-only Volkswagen sedan made by Shanghai-Volkswagen, known today as SAIC-Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Vista was the successor of the Santana 3000, which, in turn, was the successor of the Santana 2000, which was also a regular police vehicle.
As in any country, the Chinese police have many departments. This Santana Vista is used by the judicial department, The characters are 司法 (sīfǎ, judicial).
Another Beijing Jeep 2500, parked next to a…
Changfeng-Mitsubishi Pajero
Changfeng-Mitsubishi was a complicated company. It wasn’t a traditional 50-50% joint venture, but more like a license operation. Under a deal with Mitsubishi, Changfeng Motor Corporation (CMC) produced the V20 Mitsubishi Pajero under license, and the Japanese held a small share in the company. Changfeng sold the V20 under the Mitsubishi brand and their own Liebao (猎豹, Leopaard) brand.
The police car is a Mitsubishi branded variant, it looks brilliant in police colors, especially with all the dust and dirt. Note the character combination below the rear-side window: 渝察2841. ‘渝察’ is a double abbreviation: 渝 is the old and short name for Chongqing and 察 is short for police. The characters on the doors are 公安 (gōng’ān, public security). 2841 is the car’s number.
Chana Star
The Chana Star was/is a minivan produced by Changan Automobile, based in Chongqing. The police car in the photo is a first-generation vehicle, which was based on a licensed variant of the Suzuki Every. The complicated bumper was factory-standard. It uses a novel police name on the hood: 警POLICE察!
Changan-Ford Mondeo
This one was parked alongside the road a little further. A black Ford Mondeo sedan police car, in black with an extra large light bar on the roof, with a camera in the middle. The third-generation Ford Mondeo was made in China by the Changan-Ford joint venture.
This police car was operated by Traffic Patrol (交巡警). This is a Chongqing-only department of the police force, tasked with patrolling the main roads. China is not a centralized country as many may think. In reality, provinces and cities have a huge leeway in governing and setting out policy, and that includes the set-up of the police force.
The car’s number is 0001, and that does indeed indicate it was the very first vehicle of the Chongqing Traffic Patrol. It could be, as this department was launched in 2010, the very year that I visited the city. Without realizing it at the time, I saw a car that had made history! Well, what do you know?