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Spy Shots: Chery B13 MPV is going Army-only in China

Published on November 1, 2013 by Tycho de Feijter

Spy Shots: Chery B13 MPV is going Army-only in China

Amazing news on the Chery B13 MPV. Reports in Chinese automotive media indicate the B13 will be built in China by an army-owned factory and for the armed forces only. The vehicle will get a new brand name, a new logo, and a non-Chery engine.

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The Chery B13 debuted as a concept on the 2008 Beijing Auto Show and…

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it showed up as the Rely V8 on the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show. However, neither vehicle ever made it to production.

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Somehow the army got their hands on it, and somehow the army thought it was an interesting car for army use. The new brand name is Wei’er (威尔), it will be manufactured by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ‘5720 Factory’, which falls under the Chinese Air Force.

The factory is located in the city of Wuhu in Anhui Province. Power will come from a 2.2 liter four-cylinder petrol engine made by the ‘Mianyang Power Machinery Corporation’ with an output of 100hp. The resulting vehicle will not be sold on the Chinese car market, it will only be used by the armed forces.

Question is where the armed forces need such a vehicle for. A possible explanation could be that the air force want to use it to ferry pilots to and from their airplanes on airfields. Buying a commercial vehicle might be considered too dangerous for this kind of work, especially in China where everything concerning the armed forces is still very secret. Anyway and how, the Chery B13 will finally see production, sort of.

6 comments

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  1. Mark- November 1, 2013 Reply

    “Power will come from a 2.2 liter four-cylinder petrol engine made by the ‘Mianyang Power Machinery Corporation’ with an output of 100hp.” My god how old must the engine be with power output like that?

    1. Tycho de Feijter- November 1, 2013 Reply

      Very old indeed. Top speed is said to be only 130km/h…

  2. erik van ingen schenau- November 2, 2013 Reply

    Debute of the Chery B13 was at the Shanghai Show 2005, name change into Rely V8 was at the Beijing Show 2008. The present Wei’er (Whale in English) version seems to have changed from platform and engine, now using an ordinary pickup base. The original design was from the Japanese Sivax company.
    We include the car in our catalogue which is available via our website.

  3. D Mitra- November 2, 2013 Reply

    Good scoop, but this vehicle was included in NDRC’s Notice #239 in 2012, and the Chinese media is reporting it now?

    Sites such as Chinacar.com.cn or cn357.com which publish contents of the official announcements, have further specifications and the original (non-blurred) pics, for anybody interested.

    Disclaimer: I am not promoting the above sites, but visit them fairly often for official info on future vehicles.

  4. erik van ingen schenau- November 2, 2013 Reply

    You are right, D-Mitra. We use the NDRC notices to update constantly our catalogue (http://www.chinesecars.net/content/catalogue-present-chinese-motor-car-production) which gives us often the specifications of vehicles not yet or just yet introduced.

  5. dragin- November 6, 2013 Reply

    Once heard that it was built on the Daewoo Magnus platform. Any truth to this?
    Also interesting is the sourcing of an engine for a Chery model from the Brilliance Auto subsidiary, Mianyang Xinchen.

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