The tooling and intellectual property rights to the
Austin Maestro and
Montego were sold by MG Rover to RDS International Engineering, who then sold it on to Etsong. The first cars were Maestro vans, assembled in late 2000. By 2001, the Maestro hatchback had also entered production. Since Etsong was not a licensed automobile manufacturer, the cars had model codes in the 6000 range, meaning that they were classified as buses rather than automobiles. Etsong, intending for the Maestro to become a "Qingdao People's Car", also developed an "MPV" version, which was simply a Maestro van with side windows and rear seats fitted. The Etsongs are fitted with the 1,342 cc
Toyota 8A-FE engine. In 2008 the Maestro Van was relaunched as the
Yema SQJ6450 (
Yema F-series) by Sichuan Auto Industry Group Company Ltd who had purchased the tooling from FAW. SGMW took over Etsong in the summer of 2005. The factory is now used to produce small cars and vans for
SGMW. ==References==