This is a Volkswagen Citi Golf, seen in south Beijing in May 2011. The good old Volkswagen was in reasonable shape, painted white with darkened windows, and fitted with the original wheel covers. It also had rare blue 京A license plates.
The Volkswagen Citi Golf was a China-only car, based on the first-generation Seat Cordoba (1993-2002). Volkswagen changed the grille and rear and fitted a sporty spoiler and a factory-standard body kit. It looked quite nice. The FAW-Volkswagen joint venture manufactured the City Golf from 1995 until 2001. Initially, the production was largely based on CKD kits imported from Spain. Later on, however, the joint venture added more locally-made parts.
Character time
A flashy light bar at the back. Volkswagen was ahead of its time with this one. Nowadays, every new China-made Chinese car has a lightbar. Let’s have a look at the characters. On the left: 一汽大众 (Yīqì Dàzhòng), FAW-Volkswagen. On the right is the Chinese name of the City Golf, which is unusually long: 都市 高尔夫 (Dūshì Gāo’ěrfū). The first part 都市(Dūshì) means city. They spelled the English name as ‘Citi’ instead of ‘City,’ likely for marketing reasons. The second part 高尔夫(Gāo’ěrfū) is the Chinese name for the Volkswagen Golf. This phonetically translated name has continued to be used for China-made Golf models to this day.
Blue 京A license plates
Blue 京A license plates are not the same as black 京A license plates. Authorities issued the blue plates to the first batches of privately registered cars in Beijing, as opposed to those registered to companies or the government. The Beijing government issued most blue 京A plates in the early 1990s. The license plate is a very lucky one too. In Chinese culture, both 8 and 9 are lucky numbers.
The engine of the Citi Golf
Under the hood of the base model was a 1.4-liter engine producing 59 hp and 107 Nm, good for a top speed of 130 km/h. The gearbox was a 5-speed manual. Volkswagen also sold a slightly more upmarket GLX model with a 75 hp 1.6 under the bonnet, but those are super rare in comparison. Note the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee XJ on the right side. That’s a famous car!
Another Citi Golf, painted green, again with a blue 京A license plate. Until the late 2000’s the Citi Golf was still a regular sight on the roads in Beijing. After that, it slowly disappeared, and nowadays, none are left. Some might have been scrapped, while others were likely sold to other cities.