File:Haima 2 Cupid.jpg

English: Place: Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Chinese name: 海马2丘比特(hǎimǎ 2 qiūbǐtè) Year of launch: 2009

海马 means seahorse, but is actually an abbreviation of 海南马自达: Hainan Mazda. Hainan is a large island and province of China and has the size of Taiwan or Belgium. Haima is based in Hainan's capital, Haikou. History of Haima goes back to 1992, when Mazda and the Hainan local government started a joint venture for the production of Mazda cars. Mazda produced versions of the Mazda 323, 929 (Luce) and MPV. The joint venture lasted until 2006, when Haima's stake was bought by FAW. FAW currently owns 49% of Haima. Haima relied on Mazda technology for quite some time, but they developed a whole line-up through the years, which currently includes the M3, Family (formerly known as M5), M6 and M8 sedans, Family 7 (formerly known as V70) MPV and S5 Young, S5 and S7 SUVs. It seems the small Fushida vans have been discontinued.

In December 2013 Haima launched the M5. After a few years it was facelifted and renamed Family, which means it is the third generation Family after the old Mazda 323 (Familia)-based Haima Family and the rebadged and revamped Haima3, which was also named Haima Family.

Haima has always been a midpack player, sales have never really taken off considering its contemporary line-up. I've always considered it to be interesting that Chinese carmakers often copy cars from their (former) JV partners. There are a few Brilliance cars inspired by BMW (especially the V5), BAIC (Senova) has some cars resembling Mercedes-Benz cars, JAC cars 'inspired' by Hyundai and Haima by Mazda. The 2 Cupid (2 Quibite) is clearly resembling the old Mazda2, although the proportions are somewhat off.