Like it or not, more and more car makers elect to premiere their newest creations not at the IAA in Frankfurt, or the Detroit Auto Show, but in China. What do you expect with China being the world’s largest car market, and growing like gangbusters. TTAC will cover the Beijing Auto Show on press days of April 23 and 24. With daily posts, helped by the fact that China is not only ahead in sales, it’s also 12 hours ahead of the East Coast.
Here is a short random preview, gleaned from various posts on Chinese websites.
Above is a drawing of the Mercedes Benz E-Class Pullman to be Made in China, and possibly on display at the show. It’s not that it’s a secret anymore. The drawing is from a Chinese patent application.
Brilliance, called Zhonghua in China, will bring a facelifted BS4, called Junjie in China, says TheTycho. Judging from the image title, it could also be a BS6, we’ll see. As someone who has the same initials, I question the wisdom of calling cars meant for (but not doing so well in) export “BS.” But who knows, maybe Brilliance is thinking like me and wears the BS as a Badge of Honor.
Want something a bit sportier? Brilliance pimps up their “rather boring FSV sedan with this new FSV Sport,” says TheTycho.
Greatwall will show a new SUV called the Greatwall Haval. TheTycho says originally, the plan was to call it Greatwall Hover. But maybe that was to close to Rover. Or Roewe. Or whatever.
Speaking of which. SAIC’s Roewe (nee Rover) will show a facelifted Roewe 750. Carelessly parked at the kerb, as they would say in Rover-land.
In the non-SUV-dept, Greatwall will show the Tengyi C50. The English name of the beast? Voleex C50. I don’t know. Shades of Solex. Associations a Chinese car maker should avoid.
Dongfeng is busy with joint ventures. But like most Chinese JVs, they start making their homemade brands. One attempt is “, Fengsheng .“ Above, the Dongfeng-Fengsheng H30 Cross. If I’d be Dongfeng, I’d stay with my joint ventures. Or intensify their search for Western car companies.
Chang’an, also big in the joint venture game (for instance with Ford) will show their sport sedan-coupe hybrid prototype, the C201.
Shanghai GM will show their long awaited new Buick Excelle, here caught “standing somewhere outside the factory in Shanghai,” as TheTycho says.
Geely will show their Emgrand-branded EX7. Here the first model running of a not too well lit assembly line.
This is a bigger Emgrand, the EC825. According to TheTycho, it will be powered by “Mitsubishi’s ancient 2.4 four cilinder and a little less ancient Mitsubishi 2.0.”
For the sportier crowd, Geely will show a GLEagle. Concept only.
Fiat-cognoscenti will say: “Didn’t I see that car before?” When Fiat dissolved their joint venture with Nanjing Automotive in 2008, it sold the Palio and Siena platforms to small automaker Zotye. They will launch a not too much updated Siena at the Beijing Auto Show.
More Beijing Auto Show previews can be seen here. Oh well. I guess I have to bide my time until Friday, when we’ll see the really interesting new cars, which have been hidden from prying eyes. Or not, as we say at TTAC.
The Dongfeng is a pretty blatant Subaru Outback knockoff.
The GL Eagle concept is quite attractive, in a derivative sort of way.
Frankfurt, huh. There’s an auto show in Albuquerque next weekend (opens on 23rd). I don’t expect much in the way of unveiling there either.
Buenos dias, from Gallup, Pete, but your pic looks more like your standing in the Australian outback with that hat on. (I kid, I kid.)
Back when I was a Midwestern boy the only auto show I went to and expected anything new was the few times I went to Detroit. Most of the time I’d rather go to a Classic/Hot Rod Car Show.
Almost all of those Chinese cars look like a video game company was trying to design some cars for the background of their game and wanted to make them recognizable without actually paying any royalties to use brands or designs. Of course I guess that just validates what people have been saying about Chinese auto design.
If those are examples of the best of the Chinese auto industry, no wonder Buicks sell so well over there. When the competition is that goofy just having an established and mature styling language is enough to shoot Buick to the top of the heap.
“those are examples of the best of the Chinese auto industry”
They aren’t. Hopefully you’ll see some around here or ChinaCarTimes when the Autoshow begins.
Yes, the styling on the majority just looks clumsy. Even the obvious copies. But I am not a potential customer so my opinion doesn’t really matter does it?
Regulation and aerodynamics are making cars look more and more similar but that Buick Excelle is an above-average compact. The greenhouse makes me wonder if there was borrowing from the previous generation LaCrosse. Whatever, I applaud the designers for not squashing the roof.
TheTycho is a pretty good website. I saw it’s run by a guy from the Netherlands who has lived in Beijing a number of years. He says the Chinese love cars, a plus in my book.
Well I can see why GM is doing so well in China. The Buick Excelle looks like a spaceship relative to that sea of tracing paper or Korean-reject design.
That’s not it. These are probably some of the worst designs I’ve seen in a while coming from Chinese companies. They buy Buick because it’s American. No kidding.
Even looking at the exteriors, the Chinese OEMS have a long way to go.
Question for the BS or another soul familiar with Chinese auto market (please don’t recommend something if you haven’t at least lived in China for a few months): my company is moving me to China within this year. 1: should I get a Chinese made car? 2: Are there any that are anywhere near sporty? 3: How about a used car?
My current car is a 06 TSX, of course, I can accept lower levels of refinement/performance if the price is lower; as long as it doesn’t feel like a Camry. As I understand it, an Accord costs something like 50k USD in China…that’s not going to work for me, since my assignment is going to be 3 years and I don’t want to take a huge hit on depreciation, nor do I wish to fork over $50k off the bat. I’d like to stay within 30k, preferably 20k USD.
Originally, I wanted a Mustang, I thought it’d be awesome to drive a rare car (for China), and do some crazy burnouts once in a while (nobody seems to ever do them in China). But seeing that it’s not available in China, and even if it was to become available, the price would likely be well over 50k, that is no longer a possibility. And since I’m not a diplomat, I can’t import my own car or a Mustang.
YZS, I’ve lived in Shanghai for the last 16 months, and am in the automotive business.
1. Where are you living? If in BJ, SH, HK, etc, it would make much more sense to not drive. Hire someone when you need a car, or just hire a full-time driver; cheaper and safer. A license plate can cost over $6k in Shanghai; a base Camry can be had for $25,000, and I stress “base.”
2. You may end up with HUGE depreciation or not even be able to sell your used car as the used car market is not popular here, and used prices tend to be close to new prices (so they don’t sell well), which is ridiculous but that’s the way it is.
3. If you’re looking for sporty, they started making the GTI here.
http://autonews.gasgoo.com/auto-news/1014390/Volkswagen-to-introduce-Golf-GTI-to-China-this-year.html
4. You don’t have to be a diplomat to import your own car, but it will cost you, and I think you can only import brand new cars. There are a couple Mustangs in Shanghai.
5. When you say “should I get a Chinese-made car” do you mean a Chinese brand car or a made-in-China car? I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a VW or a Toyota or a GM made at the JV’s, but I wouldn’t go out and buy a BYD. I’m just not convinced.
6. Your US license will be no good in China; you must get a Chinese one, though the license test could be passed by a drunken 6-year-old, which will become apparent when you watch the traffic patterns here.
Bottom line, unless you HAVE to, I wouldn’t.
gimmeamanual, first, thanks for the response. I was thinking of not getting a car, but the factory where I’ll spend most of my time is at the edge of town (Wuxi, about 2 hours west of SH), so although I can hire a driver, it would be really inconvenient.
Reliability aside, I was considering the GTI, except my co-workers told me it wasn’t available in China yet. If it is, it will probably serve as the benchmark against which other cars will be compared, if not the default choice…
I’ve heard importing a personal car is tremendously difficult and expensive for anyone who is not a diplomat, so that’s why I made that statement. I want to keep the total budget under $30k if possible.
When I say Chinese made car, I meant Chinese brand car, made in China; BYD, Cherry, Geely, etc, are there any good ones? Though well know, the QQ is just not going to cut it…
License, not a problem, I speak Chinese so I’ll get a license in China for a few hundred USD.
YZS,
If you’ll be living in Wuxi, a car isn’t a bad option. If living in Shanghai, I wouldn’t. Easier to have someone at your beck and call, no? That said, if I had to live in Wuxi, I’d rather live in Suzhou. License plates will be less expensive outside of Shanghai, but you’ll pay additional tolls and be subject to restrictions, which you can guarantee this Expo hooplah will bring. Used cars will be easier to find outside the city.
Not sure if the GTI is on sale or not, my VW guys are all out. It’s shown on vw.com.cn but not on faw-vw.com; there is, however, a “Secondhand Cars” tab on the FAW site at the top right, but it’s all in Chinese so I don’t know what they have.
As for Chinese-brand vehicles, I’d probably trust the SAIC Roewe 750. 291,000 people bought a BYD F3 last year, they can’t all be wrong. The only sporty Chinese-brand car I’ve seen is the Geely Beauty Leopard, which you could say looks like a Tiburon if you didn’t mind insulting the Tiburon.
Getting it all said and done for $30k will be, as far as I can tell, difficult. If you manage it, good on ya, lord knows I’ve been wrong before. And in the interests of full disclosure, I don’t work for any OEM so really have no horse in this race.