1000 Xiali autos will set sail from Tianjin port at the end of this month bound for Syria, the trade and distribution center of the Middle East. The Xiali N3 model makes up the principal part of this shipment.

Mr. Wei Jianguo, Vice Minister of Commerce, stated recently that auto and auto part manufacturing symbolized the high level of technology and comprehensive competitiveness of China's industrial sector. The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will adopt effective measures to encourage and support independently developed, native auto brands in an effort to develop the overseas market.

Xiali started as part of Japan's Daihatsu. But, during the past 18 years, engineers of Tianjin FAW have made numerous technological improvements and upgrades to the original model. Currently, the Xiali series is nearly 100% produced in China. After absorbing Daihatsu's core technologies, the Tianjin company has established the first auto platform with completely independent intellectual property rights in China. Last August, they successfully developed the vigorous Xiali N3 on this platform. Immediately after entering the market, the new model received a warm welcome from all around the country with its fashionable appearance and high quality.
source:china.org

http://image2.sina.com.cn/qc/news/2006-03-14/U259P33T2D173010F9DT20060314142550.jpg

This Xiali looks somehow different. I think it's a new model. Looks handsome in my opinion :)

Hello Raul, this new version is named Xiali A+. (like my bloodgroup). The difference is only a minor change of the grille and the black inside the headlights, and the picture is taken from a very low point. So that makes this 'new' feeling.
Greetings! Erik

Thanks for the info Erik !

Xiali has made a miracle to make that old Charade look good again.

Sale of N3 prohibited in Beijing.

You may, or may not have heard that in 2008, Beijing will hold the Olympic games for the first time. One problem though - the pollution. Its been talked about, its been gossiped about, but most of all its been over exaggerated, a lot. Sure Beijing is dirty, but it aint that dirty that you have to keep your athletes in Seoul, Korea, (presumably the cleanest city, in the world) and fly them into Beijing as and when they are needed (we’re thinking of the USA team here, thanks for adding to the pollution, guys) Beijing has gotten tough on air pollution as of late, it banned a million cars from the roads, then it set up a system where cars with odd or even numbered license plates could enter the city on which day (we have no idea how the odd/even thing works) the central government even banned 444 different vehicles from being produced! One more Beijing city government has done is to enact a law stating that cars with less than level 3 emissions standards cannot be sold within the city limits, lots of trouble for Xia Li then. There best selling mini car, the N3, doesnt meet Chinese level 3 emissions levels, (it probably doesn’t meet any level), so Tianjin Xia Li have quietly pulled it from the market in Beijing.

1) N3 sales down a lot recently..
http://img.hc360.com/auto/info/images/200612/hachery06122303.jpg

2) Weizhi is also suffering

http://pics.dahangzhou.com/EdPic/UpPics/2006/11/27/2006112713431242539.jpg

By MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:55 AM ET Oct 10, 2007Print E-mail Subscribe to RSS Disable Live Quotes

BEIJING (MarketWatch) -- Chinese compact-car maker Tianjin FAW Xiali said Wednesday it expects its January-September net profit to plunge between 50% and 100% from a year earlier due to severe competition in the local economy car market.
FAW Xiali's forecast follows the dismal performance so far this year of the economy car sector, as the country's growing wealthy classes eschew smaller cars in favor of mid-sized and luxury models.
Based on the forecast, FAW Xiali may have earned at most CNY0.097 a share, according to a Dow Jones Newswires calculation. At worst, its entire profit may have disappeared during the three quarters, compared with net earnings of CNY0.193 a share in the year-earlier period. Net profit in the January-September period last year was CNY307.5 million.
The company has already seen its first half net profit slide 40% from a year earlier.
FAW Xiali is scheduled to issue its third-quarter earnings Oct. 29. The company, along with its controlling shareholder China FAW Group Corp., has a joint venture with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (TM:toyota motor corp sp a

Sales in China's subcompact market, where FAW Xiali's main products - Xiali N3, Vizi, Vela, and Weizhi; priced at CNY32,000 to CNY68,000 - are positioned, only grew 3% during the seven months to end-July, according to data from Automotive Resources Asia Ltd., a division of J.D. Power and Associates.

FAW Xiali Auto to cancel Xiali brand next year

September 12, 2008

Shanghai, September 12 (Gasgoo.com) A senior sales officer at Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co, Toyota Motor Co's Chinese partner, said the company will launch a new small car to replace the long-lived Xiali brand by March or April next year.

"The new car with come with a different name in both the sedan and hatchback version," said Wang Lixin, chief executive of Tianjin FAW Auto Sales Co in charge of South China sales, told Nanfang Daily in an interview.

According to Wang, the automaker plans to launch six new car models in the market in the next two or three years, which will include the Xiali replacement, an upgraded Weizhi, a 4.5-meter-long A-segment car, among some others.

Tianjin FAW Xiali said earlier this week it will keep its annual sales target of 400,000 units by 2010 by bringing more new models. It has just launched the 2009 Weizhi this week.

Currently it has an output capacity of 230,000 units, with a 150,000-unit plant nearby and an overseas facility (of 100,000-unit output) scheduled to be completed by 2010.

http://www.gasgoo.com/auto-news/1007744/FAW-Xiali-Auto-to-cancel-Xiali-brand-next-year.html