Category: All Brands

BMW 7-Series With A 京N·77AA7 License Plate In China

As our good readers may know, the team at CoolCarsInChina has a very healthy obsession with license plates: black plates, embassy plates, white plates, and otherwise special plates.  The license plates of this F01 BMW 740Li fall in that final category: 京N·77AA7. That’s a triple seven on a 7-Series. That can’t be a coincidence and it likely wasn’t any. Great plate for a great car. I met it in east Beijing in 2015.

The fifth generation F01 BMW 7-Series was made from 2008 until 2015, it was only the second generation 7-Series that was officially sold in China. Beige color was a popular color on the Chinese car market. I remember many were sold in this shade. Our 京N·77AA7 has a beige interior too.

BMW only sold the long-wheelbase L models in China, and only powered by petrol engines. The 740Li was powered by a 3.0 liter win-turbocharged six-in-line with output of 322 hp and 450 Nm. Top speed was 250 km/h and 0-100 was all gone in a speedy 6 seconds. Price started at 1.18 million yuan (2009). Lot of money but lot of car, especially with that license plate!

Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 Kompressor Is Pretty In Yellow In China

A pretty Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 roadster, seen in 2014 in Beijing, capital of China. The coolest thing first: the 京E·60000 license plate. I can’t remember ever seeing another car in China with four zero’s behind the first number. truly unique plate on a relatively rare car.

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Bentley Continental GT Coupe Design Series China Is Cool In Beijing

A rare Bentley Continental GT Coupe Design Series China, seen in central Beijing in 2014, parked neatly on the pavement. It was painted in a pretty kind of blue, matching nicely with mega shiny wheels and trim.

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A Toyota Crown Super Saloon Of The Vietnamese Embassy In China

A Toyota Crown Super Saloon 3.0 Twin Cam 24 sedan, seen in central Beijing in 2017. The Crown is painted in white, a relatively rare color for this great Japanese sedan.

The eight generation S130 Toyota Crown was manufactured from 1987 until 1995, in Nagoya, Japan. The Super Saloon was the second-most luxurious trim level after the Royal Saloon. It was powered by a 24 valve 3.0 liter six-in-line engine with 204 hp and 265 Nm, sending horses to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic.

This particular car belonged, or perhaps still belongs, to the Vietnamese embassy. Like in most countries, cars used by foreign embassies have special license plates in China. In the capital Beijing, diplomatic license plates start with the character 使 (shi), is short for 大使馆 dashiguan, meaning embassy.

Each embassy has its own 3-digit number. In this case the number is 228, which stands for Vietnam. The next 3 digits are the car number. The ambassador’s official car is always 001 but there are no specific rules for the other numbers, and plates may be carried over from car to car. Our Toyota Crown has car number 039, which means that the license plate, when it was issued, was for the 39th car used by the Vietnamese embassy.

This Is Probably The Best Looking W140 Mercedes-Benz S600 SEL In China

A brilliantly beautiful W140 Mercedes-Benz S600 SEL sedan, seen on a car market in east Beijing in 2017. The most striking element of the big Mercedes was its light green color, a very unusual shade for the S-Class. It also had very old black 京A·01688 license plates.

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BMW 1-Series Convertible Is A Rare German Cabriolet In China

A BMW 120i 1-Series Convertible, seen in Beijing in 2017. The open-top Bimmer was dusty, as all cars are in the capital, but otherwise okay, although the top seemed a bit loose at the back. It was painted in beige with a black top and gray wheels. Must be one of the most unassuming BMW cabriolets ever.

The first generation E88 BMW 1-Series Convertible was made from 2007 until 2014. In China, it was sold only for two years, in 2011 and 2012, and only in 120i spec. It didn’t sell well. Common wisdom says open cars are simply not popular here due to the air pollution, noise, and a lack of open-driving tradition. This wisdom is totally true. Even now, with much cleaner air in Beijing than in 2013, this hasn’t really changed.

Many car makers tried to sell convertible cars in China anyway and all of them failed. Only exception was Peugeot, which managed to sell quite a few of their funky 207 CC and 206 CC open-toppers. The BMW 120i Convertible was powered by 2.0 four with 152 hp and 200 Nm. In China, the only gearbox option was a 6-speed automatic. Power went to the rear wheels and top speed was a pretty speedy 212 km/h. BMW asked 368.000 yuan for the tiny convertible, which was a large pile of cash.

Brabus Mercedes-Benz G500 4×4² Is A Crazy SUV In China

A Brabus Mercedes-Benz G500 4×4², seen on Beijing Tuning Tribe tuning street, on the very same day I met a speedy Lamborghini. The crazy off-road ready SUV looked brilliant in yellow with and dark gray detailing.

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Lifan 720 Sedan Times Three In China

A triplet of Lifan 720 sedans, seen on a car market in north Beijing in 2019. There was no Lifan shop in the area and the cars looked like they had been there for a very long time. Strangely, it seemed they were never ever used, brand new basically. Not sure why. Perhaps they just didn’t find any buyers. Lifan cars are relatively rare in Beijing; almost no shops for service and the brand is now widely known.

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Chevrolet Epica Is A Chinese-Korean-American Sedan

A Chevrolet Epica sedan, seen in the far north of Beijing in 2019. The Epica was painted black and in a fine overall shape. The Chevrolet Epica was a mid-sized sedan made in China by the Shanghai-GM joint venture.

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