I just spent five weeks in China, and spotted a few MINIs there during my travels, as well as noticing some other makes of cars we don't see in the US any more.

I was in BeiJing only one day this year, but I spotted a Hot Orange Cabriolet in traffic between the West train station and the China Millennium Monument & Park a few blocks north, right by the CCTV headquarters building. I got a pic of it with my cell phone but it's just a little orange speck in the shot........

Next I spent 2 weeks in Tibet, mostly riding in either pedal cabs in Lhasa, or in a Toyota Land Cruiser in trips outside of Lhasa. The Land Cruiser is the SUV of choice there and are everywhere. Don't know what year our Land Cruiser was, but it was an older carb-engined model. The driver couldn't get it started one day, & we figured out together it was good old vapor lock! Been a while since I had to figure that problem out...... and not too easy to accomplish, me with very limited Chinese & he with no English. After that I noticed the newer Cruisers said '4500 EFI' on the sides, it seems to be a change only a few years old. Not too many cars of notice in Lhasa, although I did see one rather humorous car next to us at a light one day. It seemed to have a sticker or trim piece from almost every brand in existence attached to it, and of course, being in China, some of these brand names were misspelled! I tried to whip my camera out for a picture of that sight, but the light turned green & we were off before I could get the shot, of course.

I then spent a few weeks in my wife's hometown of Changsha, Hunan province, with a population including outlying areas of around 6 million.... I saw three MINIs there, all Coopers (never saw an S). I was always in a taxi when I caught sight of them, so I only got quick glances & never got close enough to get any real details or specifics of the cars. My wife took a few pictures of a red Cooper when she was out shopping one day. She asked some of her Changsha friends about MINIs there, and the impression we got is that they're expensive right now, perhaps twice the US price! BMW is building bimmers in China now, but MINIs are imported, which may explain the high prices. And thats second hand info, I didn't try to check out any factual prices while I was there. Someone in Changsha told her they think there's only about 10 MINIs running around, but in a town the size of LA I'm certainly not sure how someone could know that.

Some other cars I saw in Changsha familiar to most of us were a Jag S-type, a Cayenne S, 1 or 2 BMW 7-series & a 6-series, many 3-series and a few 5-series, quite a few new Mercedes models. I saw a billboard ad for the new Mustang but no Mustangs actually driving around. Saw a few Ford Focus's (Foci?) on the streets as well. I saw a Hummer in Changsha 2 years ago but they don't seem to have taken hold there. Probably a GOOD thing considering traffic there!

As far as cars we don't see here, but used to see here, I saw new Opels, Renaults, Peugots, Citroens, and Fiats. Some of these models were really nice looking cars IMO, and I think would sell well here in the states. We were picked up from the BeiJing airport in a Puegot, it seemed OK to me, but my wife said it was an inexpensive car (she used the word cheap) according to her friend driving/owning it.

I saw some Chevy models (Shanghai GM) I think are unique to the Chinese market - the Chevy 'Spark' (smaller than a MINI!), and a couple of other small models that I was able to see the 'bowtie' on but couldn't catch (or remember) the model name. Buick LeSabre's seem to be the UMC 'luxury car' of choice in Changsha right now. There are a lot of Chinese buying and driving their first cars in China these days!

Japanese cars are all around... Mitsubishis, Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas; Korean Hyundais & Kias; German VW's and Audi's (the A4 & A6 are everywhere).... of course the VWs (and probably the Audis) are built in China, don't know about the others.

And of course the Chinese brands, like the Chery and Geely, among others.
I planned on going out one day just for a 'car picture taking day' but it never seemed to happen, so no pics of any of these to share... sorry.

It's always interesting, as a car guy, getting to see this different kind of stuff when travelling. I imagine those of us that travel to Europe get to enjoy the same experience.

Larry

 

I was in China for 5 weeks last Summer, and I only saw one MINI the whole time :( . I was disapointed!

 

You were probably riding in a FJ60 or a FJ62, i've been to Tibet for about a month and through the time i'd road in a FJ60.

 

If it was a two door Land Cruiser it may have been an FJ75-we never got those here but they are sweet.

I had heard that Buick's are selling very well in China- seems odd but they do offer a lot of luxery for the $$, not a drivers car but they do have a nice ride.

 

This may not be the same model year, but the Land Cruiser we tooled around in was like one of these, I didn't get the FJ or other model info.....