The Beijing Jeep joint venture manufactured the Cherokee XJ from 1984 until 2009, in countless versions and variants. Early examples, like mine, had a 北京 Jeep (Běijīng Jeep) badge on the hood. Later on, it was only Jeep.
The darkened windows are an after-marked addition. Beijing Jeep did not offer darkened windows from the factory. The roof rails, however, were indeed factory-optional.
Super Space and Super Cherokee
Beijing-Jeep made so many variants that names sometimes overlapped. The name Super Space refers to any Cherokee XJ with the optional high roof, no matter the rim level. Super Cherokee was a high-end trim level with a longer wheelbase, which came with the high roof as standard.
The partially pink decals were quite rare. Most folks went for brown or red decals.
It is rare to see such a clean interior in an older Cherokee. Most have seen quite some distance, shall we say. The black leather seats look almost like new. The steering wheel is not original. The XJ had a modern steering wheel. It seems that this wheel was lifted from a new variant of the Beijing BJ212.
Top-left: the super cool Super Space sticker. The engine of the 2.5E model was a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline unit with an output of 78 kW (106 hp) and 180 Nm. The gearbox was a five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive. The top speed was 150 km/h and the fuel consumption was 10.5 liters per 100 kilometers. In 2001, it sold for 149.000 yuan.
Initially, the Beijing Jeep Cherokee was a great sales success. It was the first modern and affordable SUV on the Chinese car market. The company also sold tens of thousands of Cherokees to various government departments.
The beautiful gold BJC badge. BJC = Beijing Jeep Corporation, the full name of the joint venture.
This is one of the best Cherokee cars I have ever seen in China. Sadly, things didn’t end well for Jeep in China. When Chrysler went under during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, it pulled out of Beijing Jeep. In 2015, local production of the Jeep brand restarted in China with GAC, only to stop again in 2022. At the moment, Jeep only sells imports in China, with, due to high prices and increased competition from Chinese brands, only minimal sales.