Chery Fulwin: the Toledo clone that started the company

The Chery Fulwin, also sold as the A11, Fengyun or Windcloud, was the first car Chery ever built. Created without government approval, it was a badge-engineered copy of the first-generation SEAT Toledo and became the first step of the company’s rise.

Chery Fulwin at a glance

History of the Chery Fulwin

Built without permission

The Fulwin was essentially a badge-engineered first-generation SEAT Toledo, which the Spanish company had built from 1991 to 1999 on the Volkswagen Group A2 platform, the same one used for the licensed FAW-VW Jetta. The project depended on secret side deals with the same parts suppliers that served FAW-VW; a later out-of-court settlement meant Volkswagen agreed to drop a planned lawsuit, and the purchase of the Toledo blueprints was also carried out quietly even though SEAT was a Volkswagen subsidiary. The negotiations were the work of the engineer Yin Tongyao, who had originally worked for Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture and was recruited by the government of Wuhu in Anhui province.

Engines and naming

Yin also quietly bought the production line for an outdated 1.6-litre Ford CVH engine in England and moved it to Anhui, where the first engines left the line in May 1999; they were later replaced by the more modern Tritec and Acteco units. Because Chinese rules then made it very hard for new companies to enter the car industry, for nearly two years Chery officially produced only “automotive components”, although they were fully assembled cars. Government permission to sell the cars nationwide came in 2001.

Production

Production of the A11 began in December 1999 under the designation CAC6340. The name was officially changed to Fengyun, codenamed SQR7160, in 2000, and Chinese production ended in 2006. A long-wheelbase version codenamed SQR7160EL was released in 2003, and the Chery A15, first shown in 2003, was a facelifted Windcloud. Cars were also assembled in Jordan from 2008.

Design and features

• The first Chery: the car that turned a would-be components maker into a car manufacturer.
• SEAT Toledo basis: blueprints of the 1991–1999 Toledo, bought in secret.
• Codenames: A11, CAC6340, SQR7160 and SQR7160EL for the long-wheelbase car.

Chery Fulwin versions

• CAC6340: the first production series of December 1999.
• Fengyun SQR7160: the car as renamed in 2000.
• SQR7160EL: the long-wheelbase version of 2003.
• Jordan-assembled cars: built outside China from 2008.

The Fulwin was replaced in 2003 by the Chery Amulet, a facelifted version of the same car. Chery’s later small cars started with the Chery QQ3. More models are in the Chery collection.

Sources

• Chery Fulwin (1999), English Wikipedia: Toledo basis, engines, production and naming
• Chery A11, Russian Wikipedia: production codes, Jordan assembly