Industry dynamics

History: the 2003 Jiaju Roadster from China

Publishtime:2019/08/16 Views:3

While browsing through my archives I came across an interesting car. This is the Jiaju Roadster. I saw it on the 2003 Changchung International Auto Show in Changchun, Jilin Province. Yez I was there; and snapped a shot. Today, almost nine years later, I decided to find out what it was…

Fortunately I found one article about the Jiaju, which translates as ‘Good Horse’. The Jiaju was the brainchild of 29-years old Changchun native Liu Tong. He started his project in 2001 and finished it in June 2003, just in time for the show.

The Jiaju was a roadster based on, you guessed it, the China-made Chang’an-Suzuki Alto. Power came from the Alto’s three-cylinder 0.8. Mr. Liu claimed a top speed of 80km/h. The plan was to get the Jiaju in production and sell it for 30.000 yuan a horse.

Unfortunately Mr. Liu didn’t find financial backing and in the end the plan came to nothing. So here we have it, this one Jiaju Roadster is likely one of the most rare cars in China, and thus on this website.