Tasra my Peugeot Pars in the Dasht-e Lut desert, aka Empty desert. This is Part 4 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here, Part 2: Isfahan here and Part 3: Shiraz here. We are now headed east towards the border with Afghanistan…
Road signs in Arabic script are to be read from right to left, but Persian numbers (at the centre) from left to right. This is Part 3 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here and Part 2: Isfahan here. After enjoying…
Bahman Cara pickup in front of the Mashed-e Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, Isfahan. This is the Part 2 of our exploration of Iran in a Peugeot Pars. You can see Part 1: Tehran here. Now that you are familiar with the surprisingly relaxed vibe I felt interacting with VPN-clad, WhatsApp-chatting Tehran…
My rental Peugeot Pars near Mount Damavand, Tehran Province. Iran regularly makes headlines for all the wrong reasons - religious extremism, nuclear threats and thunderous ayatollahs - yet almost every visitor returns enchanted. The contrast is such that I felt I had to see it for myself to make up…
Toyota Tundra in front of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming, Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan, we finish our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show on a high note. After many years of anticipation and missed opportunities because of how convoluted the permit process is, I…
My rental Peugeot 301 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. We are back for a new series of China Test Drives as securing my temporary Chinese driver's licence for a second year in a row enabled me to rent two cars in two different provinces and test drive 9 more at dealerships.…
Chana CX70 in Lijiang After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming and Dali in Yunnan, we proceed on our Chinese exploration following the Shanghai Auto Show. Next stop is Lijiang, still in Yunnan province, roughly 200km north of Dali, and then we push a further 100km north to the famous…
Wuling Hongguang V in Dali old town After Shanghai, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and Kunming in Yunnan, we continue on our exploration of Chinese regions following the Shanghai Auto Show. This time we travel 350km west from Kunming to reach the small town of Dali on the shores of the Erhai…
Haval H6 Coupe near Kunming After Shanghai and Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia, we continue our exploration of China following the Shanghai Auto Show and now fly all the way down north near the border with Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam to the Yunnan province. We start with the province's capital,…
Bestune T77 in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia. This is the second stop in our 2019 exploration of China following the Shanghai Auto Show. You can consult the 1st stop Shanghai here. We are now in Manzhouli in eastern Inner Mongolia in the north of the country, at the border with Russia…
Shanghai street scene. Like every year, after reporting on the main Chinese Auto Show (this year in Shanghai), we now embark on an exploration of the car landscapes of various regions in the country. This year we returned to Shanghai for the first time since 2015. You can consult our…
The Jetta unveiling at the Shanghai Auto Show 2019. After announcing its creation in February, Volkswagen presented its new entry-level China-exclusive brand Jetta for the first time to the public at the Shanghai Auto Show two weeks ago. The strategy used by the Volkswagen Group is similar to that of the…
Jetour X90 at the Shanghai Auto Show If you are a regular BSCB reader, the initial success of Chery’s new brand Jetour over the past few months is no secret to you. But if you’re just discovering our site, chances are Jetour doesn’t ring any bell at all as its…
FAW is no more, hail Bestune! FAW, which stands for First Automotive Works, is China’s oldest vehicle manufacturer, owned at 100% by the Chinese government. Created in 1953, the company started producing trucks in 1956 and passenger cars in 1958 with the Hongqi, which has since been given its own…
Chinese EV maker Bordrin at the Shanghai Auto Show. The Shanghai Auto Show opened earlier this week in an uncertain climate for the Chinese new vehicle market. As we have noted in our Q1 2019 update, wholesales of passenger cars in China have now endured 9 consecutive months of year-on-year…