Test Lifan 820 in China

The first car of the head of the Lifan Group concern was a Lada. The 75-year-old Yin Mingshan forgot the modification. He only remembers that the car was red, without air conditioning, and broke down strictly once every six months. Now the boss of Lifan rides in the back seat of an Audi A8. His life path is considered the embodiment of the Chinese dream: from a dissident and small entrepreneur to a major influential businessman. The motorcycle repair workshop founded by Mingshan in 1992 with nine employees is now the third-largest car exporter in China. Mr. Mingshan invited journalists to his native Chongqing, to the company's headquarters and factory, to tell how and thanks to which models Lifan will increase its share in our market from one to two percent.

A brief note. Lifan came to Russia in 2007, only two years after starting its own car production, signing a contract with the Avtomir group and Derways company. Since May 2012, the plant in Cherkessk has switched from SKD large-knockdown assembly to a full CKD cycle. The head of Lifan calls Derways nothing less than first love, which cannot be betrayed. Although... Mingshan does not rule out that his charges will build their own plant in Russia, where there will be no models of other brands, as is currently the case at Derways.

Currently, in our country, there are four models on the assembly line and on sale: the Solano sedan (Lifan 620), the X60 crossover, the Breez sedan and hatchback (Lifan 520), and the compact Smily (Lifan 320). Last year, the Chinese finished with a figure of 20,544 cars sold, maintaining, as in 2011, the status of the most popular Chinese brand in Russia. Of the sold cars, 15,108 were Solano, 3,853 Smily, and 1,420 the crossover.

Lifan's future products up to 2017 are planned as follows. On a small platform with a wheelbase of 2400–2600 mm, the Chinese intend to build a crossover, a micro-crossover, and a hatchback. All of them are assigned engines with a displacement of 1.0–1.5 liters. On the medium "cart" (base 2600–2700 mm), a pair of minivans, two crossovers, a hatch, and a sedan will be built. These will be given 1.5–1.8 engines, as well as turbocharged 1.2 and 1.4 engines. With a wheelbase over 2700 mm, the platform is considered large. It is assigned exactly the same set of models as the medium one, only the engines should be "bigger": 1.8–2.4 plus turbo engines 1.4 and 2.0. The fourth "cart" is intended for rear-wheel-drive minibuses; we will not dwell on it.

We were introduced to Lifan's premiere schedule in China. This year, the company rolled out the updated Solano (Lifan 630), the restyled Smily (330), the new Breeze (530), and a certain van. (It is easy to notice that the digital designation of the models has added a ten.) In 2014, sedans with numbers 650 and 820, the compact crossover X50, and a minivan will debut. In 2015, the "six hundred sixtieth" sedan and a whole brood of crossovers will see the light: X40, X55, X66, X80. In 2016, the X70, station wagons based on the 620 and 720 models will be born, and the Breeze will undergo a restyling. In 2017: new 720, 530, a van, and the 820 station wagon. There is also this news — some models (720, 820, X70, X80) will be equipped with ESP!

The calendar of Lifan's further expansion in Russia looks like this. In December of this year, the current flagship model of the brand — the D-class sedan Lifan 720 — will arrive. Here it will get the name Cebrium and an estimated price from 500,000 rubles. In March 2014, the new Breeze will appear. In April, the X60 will acquire an "automatic." In June, the updated Smily with a CVT will be brought. It is also possible that the company will soon decide to supply minibuses, small trucks, and various motorcycle equipment to us.

Lifan is betting on crossovers. The only crossover in the lineup, the X60, will become all-wheel drive at the beginning of 2015. This was not planned at all, but since Russians need a 4 x 4 option, the Chinese will do it. The multi-disc clutch is planned to be purchased from the Koreans at Hyundai. Partners are being sought for work on a dual "wet" clutch. Turbo engines and new gearboxes will be purchased from Europeans. In any case, new members of the "X family" — the X50, X70, and X80 crossovers — will be all-wheel drive from birth. In the fall of 2014, at the Moscow International Automobile Salon, Lifan will show all possible new items. What you definitely should not expect from the brand is diesel cars: heavy fuel is bad in China, and the demand for cars running on it is minimal.

The Chinese are used to accusations of borrowing technical and design solutions. They respond: we opened our research center with six hundred employees (90% of them engineers), we have 1,479 registered trademarks and 7,207 patents worldwide, we received dozens of certificates — both European E-mark and American DOT with EPA. So we live, honestly, they say.

Currently, Lifan owns 20 plants, with more than 16 thousand people on staff. They produce about 500 thousand units of product per year. 300 thousand of this volume are cars sold in 70 countries. The remaining goods are purchased by 160 states. 45–50% of products go for export. The Chinese also diligently send people abroad: engineers are sent for internships to America, Europe, and Taiwan. Expats are seemingly welcomed, including Russian designers.

By the way, Yin Mingshan spoke separately about car design. We, he says, are still looking for a suitable style for ourselves, trying to create "our own gene," negotiating with Italians. And not with just anyone, but with the masters who drew the Bugatti Veyron. They say they (presumably the Italdesign studio) have already come to Chongqing twice, and soon we will go to them on a return visit!

They gave a tour of the plant in Chongqing, where four thousand people produce 200,000 cars a year. Everyone was given helmets, the same red ones as the workers. It reminded me that at a similar Kia plant in Korea, everyone, guests and hosts, walk with uncovered heads. And nothing. Well, yes, Soviet traditions prevail in capitalist China. From the threshold of the enterprise, the yellow hammer and sickle on a red background, honor boards, banners, and other "glory to the CPSU" began to catch the eye.

If at the Korean automobile plant half of all labor falls on the shoulders of robots, then at the Chinese one absolutely everything is done by people. And since they have to assemble cars manually and the tools are quite primitive, there are a large number of workers at every workplace. For example, several guys are busy only with stacking hoods. Many people walk around with rags and wipe things down. There are unexpectedly many girls working alongside men in the workshops.

The overall impression of the plant is clean but poor. Colleagues who visited this enterprise in 2011 noted that nothing has changed. Neither for the better nor for the worse. At the exit from the workshop, our Russian-speaking Chinese escort handed out tiny badges with the inscription Lifan. He explained that this is sports paraphernalia: the company sponsors the local football club Chongqing Lifan, which plays in the Chinese First League. Well, how are they doing? — we ask. He smirks: badly!

Calling the 40-minute circling on a patch of land a "test drive of the updated Lifan model range" doesn't quite fit. It was assumed that this time would be enough not only to drive but also to shoot something with a camera. On the other hand, a longer test in open space would have been too much for the prototypes. Even here they stalled...

The Chinese diversified the cramped carousel with a drive over artificial bumps, and that was a bold move: the battered suspensions nearly fell out of the cars. And various fasteners did scatter on the concrete. Overall, the cars presented no surprises: plain Chinese auto industry, as it is. Against the general background, the Lifan 820 sedan seemed a step forward: one can talk about its handling and noise insulation, some comfort. It also falls apart, but that's forgivable for a prototype.

Interestingly, Lifan is not even in the top twenty in domestic market sales. In China, few people drive locally produced cars, even though they cost next to nothing. Mr. Minshan also prefers foreign cars. By the way, wasn't the author of the Lifan logo inspired by Lada? The Chinese boats look very much like the VAZ boat.

And Minshan's cars themselves are in many ways similar to Togliatti's. Cheap and angry, they "sail at full sail," as the meaning of the word Lifan dictates, to the undemanding buyer with limited means. It looks like Chinese revenge for the export of Ladas. And what? A familiar Korean once said: the Japanese are cunning, and the Chinese are evil.

Behind the scenes

It so happened that all recent business trips led me to places with names starting with "K." Karelia, Korea, China, Krasnodar Krai... Whoever I read this list to, everyone perked up at the same place: "Oh, China!" So it makes sense to have an extended "behind the scenes" section. I visited Lifan in October and spent almost a week in the country. The memory card of my camera and iPhone were packed to the brim with gigabytes. This resulted in four videos.