from Tycho
Here we have a very fine vehicle from Beijing Auto Works (BAW). It is called ‘Flagship’, a fully amphibious vehicle based on the BJ2032S 4×4. The Flagship was developed in the late ’90′s and originally intended for the Chinese army but the army didn’t really want it, they bought a few hundred but found it far too slow.
Nowadays BAW sells the Flagship to everybody who wants it, most buyers are tourist resorts and water-sport holiday-companies. Kinda sad for such a brute piece of old-school Chinese hard-core machinery. It is indeed easy to imagine some big guns on the bonnet.
The Chinese name of the Flagship is Shuiluliangqi, which simply means ‘Amphibious vehicle’. Such names do fine in China but not in the bigger world, BAW therefore decided to use the rather cool sounding ‘Flagship’ as the vehicle’s English name.
Single small propeller at the back to help the vehicle move in water.
A very nasty black example. The Flagship also has an internal-factory name, it is BJ5021XZHE. Tech specs: size: 4760x1800x1905, wheelbase is 2350, weight is 1850 kg. Engine: BJ493ZQ 4-cylinder with 68kw. It can carry 5 people.
Chinese athletes who won something are paraded around town in the mighty Flagship.
BAW also sells a variant with a hard-top and a shovel up front, it is used to get on high beaches more easy, basically works as a ramp.
The hard-top is used by Chinese border-patrol troops. An example below:
This one is in Sanya, a beach city in Hainan Province.
more pics at: QDcars, Xinhuanet, Sohu, BAW and BAW
