Beijing '08 Preview: FAW B131 Sedan
by Alex Nunez on Mar 28th 2008 at 5:29PM 
The FAW Besturn is a Chinese sedan based on the current-gen Mazda6, and while it won't go down in the annals of memorable car designs, its certainly not offensive either inside or out. Come next month at the Beijing Motor Show, FAW is expected to introduce a new, still-unnamed 4-door that Autoblog Chinese refers to simply as B131. The attached sketches show some promise -- that's a nice-looking car -- but the spy photo to the right gives us pause, as it looks nothing like the sketches. In fact, it just looks like a taped-up Mazda6. Here's hoping that FAW unveils something that looks like the drawings and not just the current Mazda6 with a FAW badge in the middle of the grille. Gallery: FAW B131 (China)
[Source: Autoblog Chinese]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moe 6:00PM (3/28/2008)
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=faw+besturn&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
The car in the sketches has already been revealed. A quick Google Image Search can show you that.
Reply
Alex Nunez 6:06PM (3/28/2008)
No, that's the Besturn, which is different than the new car.
Moe 7:19PM (3/28/2008)
My bad, I thought we were talking about the Besturn.
SPG 6:01PM (3/28/2008)
It's sort of a classed up Mazda6 then I'm guessing.
In the early 90's Mazda was going to make a Lexus/Acura/Infinit fighter. It was to be called "Amati" I believe. The Millenia was built to be their entry level car and a rear drive luxo sedan was slated to be the LS400 fighter. The plan was scrapped and the Millenia was badged as a Mazda and sold slowly despite being a good car.
My point? Had it not been scrapped this could easily be badged and used as the entrly level Amati now that the Millenia is gone.
Reply
Dazza 6:19PM (3/28/2008)
Actually their were to be two initial models - Amati 300 (sold in Europe as the Xedos 6 and Japan as the Eunos 500) based on the Mazda 626, and the Amati 500 (sold in Europe as the Xedos 9 and in Japan as the Eunos 800) derived from the Mazda 929. It was the latter car which was sold in the States as the Millennia after the Amati idea folded.
In addition, there was to be a proposed Amati 1000, a rear-drive luxury saloon with a V12 engine to rival BMW's 750i, again based off the 929's platform. That car never materialised in any market.
Niralisherni 5:42AM (3/29/2008)
The paint job is very Xebra-ish. Check out http://www.zapworld.com/zap-chairman-time-now-electric-car
Reply