View allAll Photos Tagged yulon
Place: Neihu District, Taipei
The Nissan Cedric Y30 was launched in 1983 and in the following year Yue Loong started locally assembling the Cedric 811/830. In Taiwan it was produced until 1991. The 811 had a 2.0-litre four cylinder engine which was exclusive to the Taiwanese market, while the 830 was fitted with a 3.0-litre V6 engine.
Place: Wanhua District, Taipei
The China Motor Corporation (CMC) was established in 1969 by Yulon (Yue Loong) founder Yan Qingling. CMC started locally assembling Mitsubishi cars, but mostly vans.
One of the most interesting Mitsubishi's in Taiwan is the Towny. The Towny is based on the fifth generation Mitsubishi Minica (1984-1989) kei car and was launched in 1985 with a 783 cc engine and 4-speed manual transmission, unique for Taiwan but also offered in the Minicab. In 1987 the Towny received a new 796 cc engine and 5-speed transmission. In 1992 the Towny was discontinued. As of today it's probably the only small car that has ever been locally produced in Taiwan.
Place: Taichung
I had never seen a first generation Yue Loong Nissan Homer before my last visit to Taichung, but I was lucky that day since I managed to catch two of those. In Japan it was launched as the second generation Nissan Prince Homer and Nissan Datsun Cabstar in 1976. The Homer F20 and later refreshed F21 continued to be sold until 1982, when it was replaced by the F22 (Atlas in Japan, Cabstar in Europe and still called Homer in Taiwan). In Taiwan the Homer F20/F21 was locally produced by Yue Loong Nissan.
Place: Dali District, Taichung
A rare Sunny 302, which is similar to the common Sunny 303 (both are the B310 generation), however the 302 is the oldest version with round headlights and smaller taillights.
Place: Taichung
The final rear-wheel drive Datsun/Nissan Bluebird 910 (1979-1983) was manufactured by Yue Loong as Bluebird 911 and later 912. Needless to say these are very rare nowadays.
Place: Liping, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province
Chinese name: 纳智捷优6 SUV (Nàzhìjié yōu 6 SUV)
Year of launch: 2013
Taiwanese carmaker Luxgen started producing cars in 2009 with the introduction of the 7 MPV, renamed M7 after a 2014 redesign. The large 7 SUV (renamed U7 after after a 2014 redesign) followed in 2010, the 5 Sedan was launched in 2012 and restyled and renamed to S5 in 2015, whereas the most and only truly successful U6 hit the market in 2013. Apart from Taiwan, the cars are also locally produced in mainland China by the Dongfeng Yulon joint venture. The U6 is the best-selling Luxgen in China, with 34,631 units in 2014, 47,888 units in 2015, but down in 2016 to 30,817 units. Sales are dangerously down so far in 2017.
Sales figures: carsalesbase.com/china-car-sales-data/luxgen/luxgen-u6-suv/
Place: Kaohsiung
My final catch in Kaohsiung for now, from tomorrow on my spots in Taipei from the last two months.
The Yue Loong Feeling 101/102 was succeeded in 1992 by a heavily refreshed version: the Arex 601. The brand name was changed due to the adoption of a new romanization system and now called Yulon (the Chinese name remained the same).
Yulon was on a tight budget when developing the Arex, so the bumpers, doors and lower part of the dashboard are identical to the Feeling. However, the front and rear panels were newly designed, including the pop-up headlamps. The carburated 1.6 and 1.8-litre engines were replaced by a 1.8 injection engine. The engine was unreliable due to cooling system problems and the quality in general was poor.
Place: Zhongzheng District, Taipei
It was good to see this very cool Sunny B12 yellow taxicab survived and it actually looks like it's still in use. The B11 and B12 were both locally assembled by Yue Loong (Yulon), but the older rear-wheel drive B310 (YLN 302/303) survived its successors. This generation Sunny 321 was later rebranded as Sentra, possibly to distinguish it from the Sunny 303, which was still going strong but of course became dated. Besides the sedan, the stationcar was also offered in Taiwan, known in Japan as Sunny California, in Europe as Sunny Florida and in North America as Sentra Wagon. In Taiwan it was branded as Sentra ADW.
Place: Zhongshan District, Taipei
The most common cars from mainland China in Taiwan are the Geely Panda and Geely Panda Cross, marketed by Yulon Motor as tobe M'car and W'car respectively. These weren't particularly good value - for the same money you could buy a Hyundai i10, imported from India. The Emgrand EC7 and EC7-RV were badged M'way and Q'way, but these are really rare. The M'way and Q'way were only sold for about a year, when Yulon decided to shut down its tobe/Geely operations.
Place: Taichung
When I saw this car driving, I followed it with my bicycle, thankfully the owner parked at it the temple, where he was doing some worshipping. The older man didn't seem to be surprised a foreigner popped up to make a photo of his car, in fact he was very friendly.
The Sunny B210 was locally-assembled by Yue Loong (Yulon) Nissan as Yue Loong Nissan Sunny 301, but this is a pre facelift Japanese Datsun 120Y. Initially it was apparently imported before local production was started.
Place: Taichung
The Datsun/Nissan Truck preceded the Kingstar/Navara pick-ups. The 620 and 720 trucks were produced in Taiwan for the local market by Yue Loong and called 雷鳥 (Léiniǎo), Chinese for thunderbird. These are very rare nowadays, so I was thrilled that I not only managed to catch this blue Thunderbird 755 (Datsun 720), but also its predecessor, the 753 (Datsun 620).
Place: Wenshan District, Taipei
The Yue Loong Feeling 101/102 was succeeded in 1992 by a heavily refreshed version: the Arex 601. The brand name was changed due to the adoption of a new romanization system and now called Yulon (the Chinese name remained the same).
Yulon was on a tight budget when developing the Arex, so the bumpers, doors and lower part of the dashboard are identical to the Feeling. However, the front and rear panels were newly designed, including the pop-up headlamps. The carburated 1.6 and 1.8-litre engines were replaced by a 1.8 injection engine. The engine was unreliable due to cooling system problems and the quality in general was poor.
This was the first Arex/Feeling I managed to catch on my own, even in 2013 and 2014 I didn't saw one 'in the wild'. I assume the pop-up headlamps of this example don't pop-up anymore, so they are always in this position.
Place: Taichung
I had never seen a first generation Yue Loong Nissan Homer before my last visit to Taichung, but I was lucky that day since I managed to catch two of those. In Japan it was launched as the second generation Nissan Prince Homer and Nissan Datsun Cabstar in 1976. The Homer F20 and later refreshed F21 continued to be sold until 1982, when it was replaced by the F22 (Atlas in Japan, Cabstar in Europe and still called Homer in Taiwan). In Taiwan the Homer F20/F21 was locally produced by Yue Loong Nissan.
Place: Wenshan District, Taipei
Cars and trucks from mainland China are hard to catch in the Republic of China (Taiwan), pretty interesting, isn't it? Most common are the Geely Panda and Geely Panda Cross, marketed by Yulon Motor as tone M'car and W'car respectively. These weren't particularly good value - for the same money you could buy a Hyundai i10, imported from India. The Emgrand EC7 and EC7-RV were badged M'way and Q'way, but these are really rare.
Chery tried with the Fresh (A1), Apola (A3) and some Karry commercial vans. Chinese truck, bus and commercial van/pick-up company Foton sold some trucks, but it seems all these brands from mainland China have abandoned the Taiwanese market.
Place: Sanchong District, New Taipei
In 1992 Yulon Nissan launched the new locally-assembled Vanette (福滿多) on the Taiwanese market. The Vanette C22 was sold from 1985 to 1994 in international markets, meaning it was already old when it debuted on the Taiwanese market, where it largely succeeded the older Vanette C120, which was sold as Yue Loong Nissan Bobby (寶馬) in Taiwan. Three engines were available in Taiwan: a 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre petrol as well as a 2.0-litre diesel engine. It couldn't compete with the more successful and larger Mitsubishi Delica and Ford Econovan/Mazda E2200, so it was already discontinued in 1996. It probably didn't help Yulon Nissan didn't offer a chassis cab version, a very popular variant on predecessor Bobby.
Place: Neihu District, Taipei
My final car photo upload of Taiwan had to be this Yue Loong Feeling, the car from my friend Sunlight, which is being repaired.
The Yue Loong Feeling was the first national Taiwanese car and produced by Yue Loong/Yulon Motor, the carmaker that already locally produced Nissan cars. The Feeling was based on the Nissan Stanza T11, but had a unique design. Quality was poor, as were sales.
It remained in production until 1992, when it was replaced by the Arex 601, a heavily reworked Feeling. In 1995 the Arex was discontinued as well, which meant the end of a local Taiwanese car brand until the launch of the Luxgen brand by the same Yulon Motor in 2009.
Yue Loong started exporting the Feeling to the Netherlands in 1992, but sales were poor due to the combination of an unknown brand and high prices (for the same money you could buy a Peugeot 405 or Opel Vectra to name a few). The styling was already dated by that time and the poor reviews surely didn't help either. Even heavy discounting didn't help, so after selling 130 cars Yue Loong stopped its Dutch operations.
Place: Taichung
Today I already had my last day of classes and successfully finished my final term. I greatly improved my Chinese level in the past year so I am happy. The end of my Taiwanese adventure is nearing, but I still have two weeks to spend here and of course lots of interesting spots to share.
Place: Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
Chinese name: 纳智捷纳5 (nàzhìjié nà 5)
Year of launch: 2012
Taiwanese carmaker Luxgen started producing cars in 2009 with the introduction of the 7 MPV, renamed M7 after a 2014 redesign. The large 7 SUV (renamed U7 after after a 2014 redesign) followed in 2010, the 5 Sedan was launched in 2012 and restyled and renamed to S5 in 2015, whereas the only truly successful U6 hit the market in 2013. Apart from Taiwan, the cars are also locally produced in mainland China by the Dongfeng Yulon joint venture. The U6 is the best-selling Luxgen in China, with 34,631 units in 2014, 47,888 units in 2015, but down in 2016 to 30,817 units. Sales are dangerously down so far in 2017.
Sales figures: carsalesbase.com/china-car-sales-data/luxgen/luxgen-u6-suv/
Place: Taichung
The Yue Loong Feeling was the first national Taiwanese car and produced by Yue Loong/Yulon Motor, the carmaker that already locally produced Nissan cars. The Feeling was based on the Nissan Stanza T11, but had a unique design. Quality was poor, as were sales.
It remained in production until 1992, when it was replaced by the Arex 601, a heavily reworked Feeling. In 1995 the Arex was discontinued as well, which meant the end of a local Taiwanese car brand until the launch of the Luxgen brand by the same Yulon Motor in 2009.
Yue Loong started exporting the Feeling to the Netherlands in 1992, but sales were poor due to the combination of an unknown brand and high prices (for the same money you could buy a Peugeot 405 or Opel Vectra to name a few). The styling was already dated by that time and the poor reviews surely didn't help either. Even heavy discounting didn't help, so after selling 130 cars Yue Loong stopped its Dutch operations.
Place: Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Formosa Auto was set up in 2000 by the Formosa Plastics Group, the largest petrochemical conglomerate in Taiwan, and Daewoo. Daewoo already sold models like the Matiz, Nubira and Leganza on the Taiwanese market. Daewoo went bankrupt in the following year and by this General Motors (GM) gained once again access to the Taiwanese market, after the assembly of Opel cars was halted in 2000 due to a bankruptcy of its local partner.
The Formosa brand replaced the Daewoo brand, and initially launched the Formosa-badged Daewoo Magnus (Evanda in Europe) in February 2001, followed by the Matiz in the year after. Sales were disappointing and the relationship between Formosa and GM was tense, especially when GM decided to produce the next Daewoo model to be produced by the joint-venture, the Nubira II (Lacetti sedan), would be branded as Buick instead of Formosa.
In 2005 Formosa had to look for another partner when GM and Yulon agreed to make Buick cars in Taiwan. Since 2006 Formosa is locally assembling DAF trucks in its Taiwanese plant.
Place: Taichung
The Datsun/Nissan Truck preceded the Kingstar/Navara pick-ups. The 620 and 720 trucks were produced in Taiwan for the local market by Yue Loong and called 雷鳥 (Léiniǎo), Chinese for thunderbird. These are very rare nowadays, so I was thrilled that I not only managed to catch this green/blue Thunderbird 753 (Datsun 620), but also its successor, the 755 (Datsun 720).