File:Alfa Romeo 164 China.jpg

English: Place: Kaohsiung

Larger European cars had been popular until the late nineties, but for some reason their popularity ended abruptly. I've seen Rover 600s, 800s, but no 75, a Peugeot 605 but no 607, Volvo's until the 850 and 900-series are extremely common, yet I can't recall having seen a S80. Saab 9000s are everywhere, the 9-5 is quite rare and I don't think the Lancia Thesis ever made it to Taiwan, unlike the Thema and Kappa which currently seem to be more common here than in the Netherlands. In the same way, the Alfa Romeo 164 found its way to Taiwan. It's a far stretch from calling it a success, but still 1,293 units have been sold in Taiwan.

The car was originally launched as 164 in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, but was quickly being renamed to 168, because the pronunciation of 1-6-4 in Chinese "一六四" (yī liù sì) sounds to similar to "一路死" (yī lù sǐ), which could be translated as "all the way to death" or "the whole journey to death". In the superstitious Chinese world number four (四) is sometimes avoided because the pronunciation of it (sì), sounds to similar to the pronunciation of 'to die' (死 sǐ), for instance in hospitals or elevators in many apartments you won't find a fourth floor.

Sales figures of all versions: www.alfa164register.nl/history/prodfig_country.php#sales