BMW China Partner Brilliance Sets 2007 US Rollout

[VenSeattle]

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_News/...173.A10203.html

BMW China Partner Brilliance Sets 2007 U.S. Rollout

The first Chinese-built car to go on sale in the U.S. could be the Brilliance M1 sedan, produced by Brilliance China Automotive, Ltd., and targeted for a North American rollout in 2007. Brilliance China is a joint-venture partner of BMW AG. Importer Jeff Suh, president of Global Holdings International, says he plans to bring in vehicles from Brilliance and two other Chinese automakers and is setting up charter dealerships in Las Vegas and Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Brilliance M1, says Suh, will be priced from 30 percent to 50 percent below comparable sedans, and "will have premium quality."  The M1 was to have gone on sale in Europe last fall, according to Ward's Automotive Reports, but was delayed by regulatory issues. Called the Zhangua in Asia, the Brilliance M1 will be taken on a nationwide tour starting this June in San Francisco, says Suh. Several U.S. distributorships have been selected, and dealerships will be established on a 1000-per-vehicle sales basis per year.

The other large Chinese automakers planning export launches in the U.S. are Chery Motors, whose U.S. importer will be promoter Malcolm Bricklin's Visionary Vehicles, LLC, and Geely Automobile Company, whose 7151 CK sedan debuted in January at the Detroit North American International Auto Show. The Chery and Geely launches in the U.S. are not scheduled until 2008. Global Holdings also plans to import cars from smaller producers Foton Auto and Boading Tianma Auto. -Mac Gordon

Another topic referring to Brilliance:

http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...?showtopic=6255

[Variance]

(Sits waiting with bated breath...)

[Paolino]

Wow... uh, boring?

[Flybrian]

Though that's the funniest interior I've ever seen, I've always wondered what a Volga mixed with an I35 would look like.

Thanks, Brilliance!

[Croc]

Best Chinese car yet...but that's not saying much.

[mustang84]

Well, it looks put together better than some of the other Chinese cars I have seen, but I'll put money down that it still crumples up like tin foil during crash tests.

[Polish_Kris]

Though that's the funniest interior I've ever seen, I've always wondered what a Volga mixed with an I35 would look like.

Thanks, Brilliance!

Hey Dude, I'll take the Volga over the Brilliance any day!

Volgas at least are built like tanks!

[PurdueGuy]

...so that's 3 chinese automotive companies trying to come here now. I guess it's likely that at least one of them will pull it off.

Edited March 30, 2006 by PurdueGuy

[ToniCipriani]

That ass actually looks like the previous gen Accord or current CSX (a.k.a. valiant attempt at a luxury Acura compact which Canadian sheep are stupid enough to buy)

[Flybrian]

Upon further observation, look at how scattershot this car is. Apparently it has ultrasonic backup assist, but manual single-zone HVAC? A stick on a car this large? Not in this country. Wood trim that kind of just goes somewhere. Vents with no lateral directional control, only close/open?

All this proof that while China can certainly manufactuer a car (what country with industry can't?), they still cannot create or design a car.

[PurdueGuy]

A stick on a car this large?

I'd love a large car with a stick. Not a large Chinese car, though...

[Polish_Kris]

(a.k.a. valiant attempt at a luxury Acura compact which Canadian sheep are stupid enough to buy)

I see more g6's like yours driving around here, than the new CSX's, so I'm guessing you could call yourself a sheeple.

[VenSeattle]

I see more g6's like yours driving around here, than the new CSX's, so I'm guessing you could call yourself a sheeple.

The Pontiac G6 in Canada is still a Pontiac G6 in the US... unlike the Acura CSX.

[Mr Plow 2500HD]

There gonna sell a tons of those crap boxes over here...look at kia and hyundi people will buy the suckers on price alone wonder what warrenty it'll have?

Put some half assed tv commericals on start in big cities and give credit to anybody like kia and they will sell. For the price of a base cobalt you can get a fully loaded mid size red chinese crapolo 2000 or what ever the hell it is...I expet to see them sold along side gm products or furds, dealers are greedy little people...we shall see folks

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I hear crickets chirping somewhere in the background and -- oh, look! -- there's a tumbleweed blowing across the barren desert landscape.

And as to the comment on the Volga, it was a pretty boring sedan from a pretty boring company...well, except for one coupe that a company in Russia recreated on an old BMW 6-Series chassis. That coupe was actually pretty sexy.

Edited March 31, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[FAPTurbo]

You know something is wrong with North America when its people are willing to buy cheap $h!-zu boxes manufactured by companies owned by a red communist government, (yeah remember, they ARE communists) which pursues rampant hedonism and capitalism (not the good kind) at the expense of poor farmers who are drop kicked into prisons after their local official steals their land in order to use it for a new sweatshop which will line his own pockets and at the same time add just another burden on a country suffering from intense environmental degradation and yet feels the need to aim hundreds of missiles at an independant island nation to its southeast and routinely menace the population of that nation claiming that this nation is in fact a part of the mainland when really the people fled to this island to escape communism in the first place.

Then again, the Wal-Mart shoppers never seem to listen to me either.

[thegriffon]

Wrong images. That's the facelifted Zhonghua Xunche (Grandeur), designed by pininfarina, the vehicle Global Holdings is showing is the original Italdesign Zhonghua from 2002, which Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei is no longer actively publicizing in China. It uses a primitive version of the old Mitsubishi 2.4 L from the Sebring coupe, which does not meet either European or American emission standards.

[ToniCipriani]

I see more g6's like yours driving around here, than the new CSX's, so I'm guessing you could call yourself a sheeple.

Oh not really. I've only seen one or two Stealth Gray G6s. Base G6s are rarity, as well. So not "like mine" driving around

The Pontiac G6 in Canada is still a Pontiac G6 in the US... unlike the Acura CSX.

Ditto. Thanks for the shot back Ven!

Back to the topic...

The front looks like a Lancia:

http://www.lancia.it/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/LA...OID=-1073769373

Edited March 31, 2006 by ToniCipriani

[thegriffon]

Upon further observation, look at how scattershot this car is. Apparently it has ultrasonic backup assist, but manual single-zone HVAC? A stick on a car this large? Not in this country. Wood trim that kind of just goes somewhere. Vents with no lateral directional control, only close/open?

All this proof that while China can certainly manufactuer a car (what country with industry can't?), they still cannot create or design a car.

That's why this one was designed by Pininfarina, with engineering by Porsche.

The Zhonghua was designed to compete with the Buick 2.5 sedan, which was updated to the current Buick Regal 2.5. Sales have not met expectations and have been steadily, rapidly falling. Brilliance China, although controlled by the Liaoning provincial government, is a Bermuda company listed on the NYSE (CBA). It has a joint venture in China with a related company (Shenyang Jinbei Automotive), called Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei Automobile, which makes Zhonghua brand sedans and three versions of older Toyota Hiace vans sold as the Jinbei Haise (Haise for Hiace). Not to be confused with another Shenyang Jinbei subsidiary, Shenyang Jinbei Vehicle Manufacturing, which makes 1t, 2t and 3t commercial trucks.

[Intrepidation]

Lol it looks like they were trying to copy the Accent's interior, except the Hyundai has better looking colors, materials, fit/finish and overall design.

Although they are getting a bit better, check this one out.

Doesn't look bad at all, but I'd still never buy one, especially from a country that eats cats (and yes they really do...look on planteboredom.net for proof)

[ToniCipriani]

Hmm.... They flipped it upside down... But the badge location's still the same.

[Intrepidation]

Hmm.... They flipped it upside down... But the badge location's still the same.

lol

[Mr Plow 2500HD]

When asked 75% of wal mart customers prefer to buy American, but 92 percent of their purchases are made in china! Bush is filing a trade complant about china and its tariffs on importing US auto parts Lets see if that doesnt makem dump these things here even cheaper just to screw the domestics!!!!

[balthazar]

Even my pre-teen boys know from experience: anything labeled 'Made in China' will break inside of a week.

[ponchoman49]

Even my pre-teen boys know from experience: anything labeled 'Made in China' will break inside of a week.

Exactly

[PurdueGuy]

...this conversation reminded me of my calculator, which I had to re-solder a battery connection on. I felt it deserved this custom sticker placed below the "made in china" one...

[gm_rocks]

...this conversation reminded me of my calculator, which I had to re-solder a battery connection on.  I felt it deserved this custom sticker placed below the "made in china" one...

ROFL.. well done

[BrewSwillis]

...this conversation reminded me of my calculator, which I had to re-solder a battery connection on.  I felt it deserved this custom sticker placed below the "made in china" one...

Reminds me of this SHRAP calculator I used to have. That's right, it was a SHRAP and not a SHARP. I kept it because that thing cracked me up!

[carstar]

brilliance should offer 200,000 miles/ 20 year warranty on everything

[rueben44]

The outside is nice but that interior looks like trash. What will their slogan be," Build by the worlds cheapest workforce!"

[Intrepidation]

The outside is nice but that interior looks like trash. What will their slogan be," Build by the worlds cheapest workforce!"

Or: "Our workforce is expendable and so is our cars!"

Bet you could get a better car out of the junkyard