Pieter's puzzle17 SOLVED Chana Star

[pieter]

I have no idea how easy or difficult this will be, no idea how widely this is sold, but here goes:

[pieter]

Uncensored this time:

[pieter]

What? Not even a single wild guess in more than a week?

Hint: This manufacturer is currently having a 20000km 12 country trip with four 1.3 litre engined vehicles, two of which are like the one in the picture. (No support vehicles!) I will (for now) not say from where, but this trip is to end in Johannesburg.

[SeaLion]

Honda Acty?

[pieter]

Nope

[Otto Puzzell]

Suzuki Carry ?

[pieter]

Unfortunately not

[Otto Puzzell]

Then I'm going to guess it's the Bedford or Holden variant, which seem to have different names in different countries. 

[GRAYWOLF]

It looks like an Ariel badge on the front, but I can't find a reference to them building anything other than the Atom.

[pieter]

Unfortunately I know little about this vehicle - I do not know if it is based on a vehicle from a better known manufacturer. (Manufacturers do not often say 'our little car is actually an XYZ underneath'...) Not British, nor even Japanese.

[GRAYWOLF]

Korean

[pieter]

Not Korean

[Otto Puzzell]

In China, the Suzuki Carry is assembled by Chang'an Suzuki in Chongqing, Changhe in Jiangxi Province, Harbin Light in Heilongjiang Province.

In India, it is manufactured by Maruti Udyog and sold as the Omni while in Indonesia, the Carry/Futura is a powerful presence in the suburban taxi market. In Taiwan, the Carry is produced by Ford Lio Ho and sold as the Ford Pronto.

[pieter]

Now you've got me! I Googled for a Suzuki Carri and could not find one. You mention a city name, though, that is where the abovementioned marathon trip started from. But none of the names are what it is sold as.

[JR]

The badge is definitely Chang'an. I've got the model listed as a Zhixing SC 1022 but as ever with Chinese vehicles it could be listed as a number of different vehicles depending on where it was made. I also have it listed as Suzuki Carry base.

JR

[pieter]

I think given the fuzzy nature of our knowledge of the Chinese car industry and my limited knowledge, I should award this one. How do I give Karn and JR a half-point each?

It is sold in South Africa as the Chana Star

I found this: ChangAn Automobile Group Company Limited was established in 1862 and is the largest small vehicle manufacturing company in China, as well as being fourth-biggest overall.

http://www.chana-sa.co.za/content.cfm?id=1526

Hats off to the crowd who are driving these little vehicles from China to South Africa - it seems they are now near Dubai

[Otto Puzzell]

Yep

http://www.caky.com.cn/WEB/index.asp

[pieter]

长安跨越支持三峡库区建设汪洋书记莅临万州基地调研, indeed

[Otto Puzzell]

Please give JR my half point.

[JR]

Apparently Zhixing means Star, so they've directly translated the name for South Africa.

JR

P.S.  thanks Karnutz

[Otto Puzzell]

Apparently Zhixing means Star, so they've directly translated the name for South Africa.

JR

P.S.  thanks Karnutz

You earned it! I only named a bunch of companies that build Suzuki clones. You identified the right one, plus the model.