Place: Liping, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province
<p>Chinese name: 一汽森雅S80 (yīqì sēnyǎ S80)
Year of launch: 2009 (Daihatsu Xenia: 2007)
</p><p>First Auto Works (FAW) is one of the four largest state-owned automotive companies in China. It was founded in 1953 and launched its first car, the Hongqi (Red Flag). One of its subsidiaries, FAW Tianjin, started producing cars in 1965. From November 1984 it started producing Daihatsu cars in license, starting with the Hijet, but followed by the Charade in 1986. This car, the Xiali (夏利) would become one of the most successful cars in China in the nineties and can be considered an icon for the Chinese automotive industry.
</p><p>FAW always had a link with Daihatsu: it produced the Dario Terios and Daihatsu Xenia in a joint venture with the Japanese carmaker, the latter one continued to be produced by FAW under its own name as FAW Shenya (Xenia) M80/S80. Apart from the Xiali and Shenya, FAW also produced the Daihatsu Move from 2003 to 2008 under license. It was produced by its subsidiary FAW Huali, in the past responsible for the production of yet another Daihatsu: the Hijet, which was marketed in China as FAW Huali Dafa. The FAW Huali Jiaxing (Happy Messenger), as the rebranded Daihatsu Move was called, came with some side claddings and a chrome grille.
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FAW Jilin is one of the many subsidiaries of FAW, and focuses on little vans, but is also responsible for production of Senya passenger cars: the rebadged Daihatsu Xenia (FAW Senya M80 and S80) and Senya R7 compact SUV. The Daihatsu Xenia was launched in 2007 under the Daihatsu marque, but renamed FAW Xenia (Senya) M80 in 2009. A rugged version with side claddings around was launched in the year after.
Rutger van der Maar
CC BY 2.0
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