Tiger Truck

While walking to church from the parking structure at Fullerton College, I saw a tiny white pick-up truck.



I've never heard of the brand on the tailgate (Tiger Truck) but it looked a lot like the older cargo van we have at PMI-Chengdu; the Star Trek logo on the mudflaps also looked familiar. After searching the web, it turns out Tiger Truck is really Chana Auto, based out of Chongqing. I think this is the model we have in China:



I usually ride in the newer Mitsubishi-based minivan while in Chengdu but one time the driver took me home in the old Chana van. It's really small and the seats were pretty uncomfortable but I saw a lot of them on the road. The one I saw today in Fullerton is a crew cab and sells for $13,895 with a 1.0L 4-cylinder engine. I wonder if you can even reach freeway speeds when fully loaded with 4 people and 500 lbs. of cargo. I can't tell from the website whether it's made in their new plant in Oklahoma or shipped from China. It's not even that cheap since you can get the base Toyota Tacoma for $14,280. If you really need to carry 4 people, the Tacoma 4dr Access Cab is $17,720 and both has a 2.7L engine. I would much rather get a Toyota for a bit more money.



Front view. The empty weight is only 2,116 lbs., about 2/3 of my 350Z or 1/2 of my 4Runner. Sure it gets better gas mileage but it doesn't look very crash-worthy.