Chinese automaker to build sedan on Saleen platform?
On one hand, Steve Saleen has two Challengers due out under his SMS brand. On the other, he's got the slightly tangled mess of CHAMCO, it's Chinese partner Zhongxing Auto, and their joint U.S. venture, ZX Auto North America International.
Earlier this year, Steve was meant to be helping CHAMCO bring Chinese-made Zhongxing pickup trucks to America. Due to CHAMCO and ZX Auto NA getting tied up in bankruptcy, it appears Saleen has left CHAMCO to join its Chinese partner, Zhongxing Auto. There, he will develop a platform on which Zhongxing will base a sports car, a sedan, a CUV, an SAV, and an MPV. It looks like a Chinese-market operation, with Zhongxing promising mid- and high-end segment competitors with "big power and big torque."
[Source: Gasgoo]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam H. 2:50PM (12/28/2008)
that's a last gen tundra knock off if i've ever seen one.
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Egon 3:30PM (12/28/2008)
Beat me to it. It looks like a 5/8 scale Tundra 4-door with 1:1 headlights tacked on.
The Luigiian 4:04PM (12/28/2008)
It's actually just a Tacoma knockoff. The stats for the truck they had on the CHAMCO website were the exact same stats as they had for the Tacoma crewcab on Edmunds, except rounded off in places. Even the engine had the same displacement and horsepower as the old 2.7 four-cylinder from the Tacoma.
Joce03 7:17PM (12/28/2008)
Damn! That's what I wanted to say. Ah, the Chinese... Is there anything they won't copy?
CarbonBlack 8:32PM (12/28/2008)
The Luigiian,
I think that is a Tundra.
-Nick
Kotse 10:20PM (12/28/2008)
A Chinese "Taco"!!!
The Luigiian 10:51PM (12/28/2008)
All right, as usual Autoblog is driving me nuts.
My response to CarbonBlack is under the post by "CARGOD".
JSams4131 4:09PM (12/28/2008)
my dad has a truck that looks like this..its called a toyota tundra...god how bad would it be to accidentally buy a car you thought was a toyota. in most cases it would never happen to a person educated in their purchase but i hate seeing rip offs like this and the new mazda truck looks like a frontier rear with a tacoma front end with the current gen tundra grill..laff
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The Luigiian 4:10PM (12/28/2008)
I'm actually glad the pickup isn't coming to the United States. It would have been thoroughly disappointing in all areas except price. No power from the four cylinder crew cab configuration, no towing, no hauling, bad interior... the list goes on and on.
But now they're just going to give us a sedan, SUV, sports car and minivan instead. We already have plenty of those on the market. So instead of trying to fit themselves into a lonely market with little to no major competition, they're going to cram themselves into the biggest automotive markets in the U.S., with the possible exception of the minivan market, which I do realize isn't too crowded.
If China really wanted to compete in the U.S. market, they'd bring over a compact truck with a small displacement V6 and reasonable fuel efficiency. Instead, they surrender the segment to Toyota like everyone else has.
Oh well. At least the Tacoma isn't too horrible.
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CARGOD 7:43PM (12/28/2008)
CHAMCO IS A JOKE!!!! THEY HIRED EVERYONE I KNOW THAT HAD LOST THERE JOB IN DETROIT AND MADE ALL SORTS OF PROMISES TO THESE PEOPLE AND THEN WENT BUST..LOT OF INVESTORS GOT BURNED BUY THESE BUMS...CAN'T TRUST THE CHINESE GUYS!!!
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The Luigiian 10:49PM (12/28/2008)
CarbonBlack,
It definitely looks like a Tundra. The Zhongxing site says it's designed to compete against the "Toyota Tundra and Nissan Frontier." Other sites says it looks like a Mitsubishi Triton. The truck itself has a 150 hp four-cylinder engine.
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2006/11/28/zhongxing-autos-shows-off-its-new-truck-and-jeep/
http://www.chinacarforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=806
http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/autoshows/naias2008/chamco/page1.html
If they were going to put a 150 hp four-cylinder into a truck as big as a Tundra...
You know what? I give up. I don't even think CHAMCO knew what the hell this thing was supposed to be. They say it competes with the full-size Tundra and compact Frontier. That doesn't make sense, and this whole thing confuses the hell out of me. I'm glad they went bankrupt, and I hope they don't come back.
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QQ 12:30AM (12/29/2008)
Ranger knockoff !
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