This sedan is a Venucia D60, seen parked alongside the road in Beijing, China. The D60 was painted in Pearlescent White, with blue-lined headlights and sporty alloy wheels. The license plates are from Liaoning Province.
Venucia was founded in 2010 as a brand under the Dongfeng-Nissan joint venture. Venucia was a budget brand, using older Nissan cars as a base for its vehicles. The Chinese name of Venucia is 启辰 (Qǐchén), which means Morning Star.
The Venucia D60 is a compact sedan. It was launched on the Chinese car market in late 2017. The D60 was based on the third-generation Nissan Sylphy sedan, which was produced by Dongfeng-Nissan as well. But it was more than just a rebadge. The design was completely new. Perhaps not too pretty, but surely… different. The D60 is still around today (!). It received facelifts in 2019 and 2023 when it was renamed to D60 Plus. The car that I saw is the original 2017-2018 D60.
The current Venucia D60 Plus. There is an EV version too, called the D60 Plus EV.
The interior was quite fancy for the segment at the time, with sporty fake-leather seats, red trim, piano black trim, two cup holders, and an audio system with a shipload of tiny buttons. The owner put a sun protector behind the windshield. Rightly so, the Beijing summer sun can be hard and hot.
The rear lights are enormous! It has the Venucia name in Latin script on the boot lid, in capitals. The Venucia D60 was powered by a Nissan 1.6-liter four-cylinder petrol engine with an output of 122 hp and 155 Nm. The motor was mated to a CVT gearbox, sending horses to the front wheels. The top speed was 180 km/h and 0-100 took 12 seconds. The fuel consumption was a rather steep 6.18 liters per 100 kilometers.
The grille is cool, with 20 shiny pieces. This older model has the original Venucia logo, depicting five stars, two gray and three blue, against a dark blue background. The D60 was quite popular, mainly because of its price. It sold for only 93.800 yuan in period, which was a good deal for a 4.7-meter-long sedan with Nissan genes.