China's Brilliance to show cars at Detroit show

2008 Brilliance BS4

BEIJING : August 19, 2008 - Brilliance Jinbei Automotive Co., a small Chinese automaker, will display cars at the Detroit auto show in January.


The company says it wants to start selling cars in the United States next year, but the cars have not passed U.S. government tests for safety and emissions. Brilliance says it has hired engineering consultants to upgrade their cars.

A Brilliance spokeswoman says the automaker will show four models in Detroit: the BS6 mid-sized sedan, BS4 compact car, BC3 coupe sports car and FRV hatchback.

In recent years, various Chinese automakers have announced ambitious plans to sell cars in the United States. But they later delayed or postponed their plans when they realized the substantial investment required to establish dealerships and upgrade their vehicles.

In July, Brilliance resumed selling the BS6 in Europe. Sales there were suspended about a year ago after the car fared poorly in a crash test. A video of the crash test received a lot of play in Europe.

At the Beijing auto show in April, Brilliance Vice President He Guohua told Automotive News China that Brilliance sent the BS6 and BS4 to the United States in June 2007 for emission and crash tests.

He said the crash test results were good, but the emission test showed problems, such as high levels of oxides of nitrogen.

He said Brilliance has hired the engineering arm of Porsche AG to work on the crash safety of the two models and FEV Inc., a U.S. engine technology company, to reduce emissions.

He expected all the improvements to be made by December.

Brilliance's spokeswoman says the company expects to sell cars in the United States sometime in 2009. She declined to provide further details on plans for U.S. dealers and distribution.

State-owned Brilliance, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, sold 32,006 BS6s and 82,311 BS4s in 2007, according to Automotive Resources Asia, a unit of J.D. Power and Associates.

Brilliance and joint-venture partner BMW AG produce BMW brand cars in China.

[Source : Automotive News .. sub req.]