The Maestro & Montego Alive and well in China!

[Ion Pulse]

I was very surprised to stumble on this, the Austin Maestro,Maestro Van and Montego are still built in China by a company called Etsong. Etsong is a important Chinese tobacco industry, the were given the rights to manufacture the Austins in 1998 and have so ever since. All the cars are fitted with 1.3litre Toyota sourced engines. The cars have been renamed the Lubao. It gets even weirder with Etsongs 'new' model which is essentially a Maestro body with a Montego front end grafted on(a Monstro), the wheel arches at the front and rear are at odds. This has to be one of the oddities in the car industry today, but it shows that even unremarable designs like the Maestro and Montego can go on for over 20years. Weirder still the Morris Ital lives on as the Haundu in China!!


Etsong Lubao


'new' Etsong Lubao(A Monstro)


These wheel arches


Back looks better than original.


Etsong Lubao Van(Maestro Van)


The Huandu(Morris Ital Estate)


The Huandu from the rear shows its age