A gold-colored BYD Flyer, seen in China in 2016. The flyer was in fine shape, the paint was still all right, and the original BYD logo was on the grille. The sporty twin-five-spoke alloy wheels were standard. Before BYD became the world’s largest NEV maker, it didn’t make cars at all. Until 2003, BYD was just a battery maker.
Snoopy is an American comic character, a dog, launched back in 1950. HKS is a Japanese tuning firm. These sorts of stickers were widely available in car repair shops in China in the 2000s.
This one is interesting: “What is a racing? Feet, hands, eyes? No, no. That is the spirit of racing.” All right!
In the early 2000s, BYD wanted to become a car maker, like so many Chinese companies, because they saw the boom coming. But in China, companies need a special government license to produce cars and these were, and still are, ultra hard to get. So BYD took a shortcut and bought a small car maker called Qinchuan Auto in 2003. This company made one car: the Qinchuan Flyer. BYD turned it into the BYD Flyer.
Initially, BYD didn’t change much, but in 2004 it unveiled an updated Flyer with larger headlights and a new interior. That’s the car we have here today. For a full story about Qinchuan, BYD, and the Flyer, please see my earlier article on ChinaCarHistory.
The owner added fancy seat covers. Thick ones, indicating a cold climate. And that appears to be correct as the license plates are from Shaanxi Province, a place that has ice-cold winters. The seat covers have a tiger print motif and the passenger seat has a fancy flower pillow. The steering wheel cover is after-market too. It is very thick, just like the seat covers.
The wind deflectors and the roof rack were dealer options.
The updated BYD Flyer was available with two engines: a 0.9-liter 3-pot with 41 hp and 62 Nm, and a 1.1-liter four-pot with 51 hp and 83 nm. The 0.9 was mated to a 4-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic. The 1.1 was mated to a 5-speed manual. The car that I saw has the 1.1 under the hood.
Note the fog light on the left side of the bumper, many small Chinese cars had this arrangement in the early 2000s. It had a ‘FLYER’ badge on the right side, under the window, in Latin script in capitals. On the left side, under the window: 比亚迪, Bǐyǎdí, BYD. It also has an RAV4 badge! On the right side, low, is the full designation: QCJ7110.
The BYD Flyer sold pretty well and these little cars were a common sight in China in the 2000s, especially down south where BYD is based. It was a strong little car and they stayed around for quite a while. Only in the mid-2010s the Flyer slowly started to disappear from the streets. Well, by that time, BYD had already launched dozens and dozens of new and better cars.