Nanjing Yuejin Soyat

Nanjing Yuejin Soyat
Soyat Encore (2003-2007)
Overview
Manufacturer	Nanjing Automobile
Production	1999-2008
Body and chassis
Class	Small family car
Body style	5-door hatchback 4-door van
Related	SEAT Ibiza Mk1
Chronology
Predecessor	None
Successor	None

The Soyat is a small family hatchback built by the Wuxi Soyat (南汽新雅途) branch of Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation. The car is based on the early ('System Porsche') version of the SEAT Ibiza Mark I (1984-1993). After the car was replaced, the technology and production line were bought by a joint venture between Nanjing Yuejin and the Malaysian Lion Group in 1997. Production did not begin, however, until Fiat took over the Lion Group's share in Jiangsu Nanya Auto, as the company was called.

In 1999 the SEAT design was modified for the Chinese market and then rebranded as the Zhongguo Nanjing NJ6400, later as the modernized and fuel injected GHR Encore. This model continued until October 2003 when the Ibiza license expired and the design had to be updated. In March 2004 a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer called Ningbo Bird decided that it too wanted to get into the process of car manufacture. With Ningbo Bird joining the original partners in a 50/50 relationship, the new design was renamed the Soyat. Ningbo Bird then left the company in 2005.

In addition to the five-door Soyat hatchback, a four-door tall estate (two on the right-hand side) called the Soyat Unique NJ1020 is also available, using a wider and taller rear end borrowed from the more modern SEAT Inca.

Although the car's design dates back to 1984, it proved reasonably popular despite being based on a design which is now more than twenty years old. Production numbers have dropped considerably (from 4,261 in 2004 to 705 in the first eleven months of 2007,) as Nanjing's focus switched to more modern and competitive Fiats and then MGs. Engines available were originally the "System Porsche" 1.2 and 1.5-litre (70 and 86 hp), the smaller engine has since been replaced with a 1,342 cc version of Toyota origins. In 2007 the Soyat received another facelift styled a bit like the front end of the Proton Waja, but it was all for nothing and by 2008 Soyat production had ended and Nanjing's new owners SAIC closed down the Wuxi factory.