Eastern Autos Go West

Chinese cars create a stir at Frankfurt.

There was controversy at the Frankfurt Motor Show as wildfire rumours suggested that one of the two Chinese exhibitors at the show was about to be thrown out, following objections by western car makers over allegations of design piracy.

A media scrum ensued, though no eviction notice was serves on China Automobile Deutschland, the German-based importer that is trying to turn itself into the “Aldi or Lidl of the car business”.

At the centre of the storm were two car models, the Jonway UFO and the Sheunghuang CEO. The former looks like a clone of the Toyota RAV4; the latter bears more than a passing resemblance to the BMW X3. In China, this sort of “design piracy” is rife, but = allowable.

However, Karl Schloessl, chairman of China Automobile Deutschland, believes there is no case to answer. “The CEO has been produced for more than three years now and is on sale in many world markets. It is not a copy. You can find inspiration from other cars – the last inspiration is the tyres – they’re always black!”

BMW should be careful, he warned. “Maybe they want to block the Chinese cars in Europe, but BMW is also trying to sell cars in China, and now the Chinese people are beginning to think, what can we do in China also? I think it is not good for BMW and it’s not good for the competitive market.”

CAD has been selling in Austria, Germany and Italy for nine months, and has sold 600 cars so far, with 800 cars on order. And Schloessl wants to take the concept to the UK: “We’re looking for an importer in England, and can deliver RHD in 60 days. We hope to find the right person and start to sell our SUVs in all European markets.” . Crash tests are under way for the models - he expects three or four Euro NCAP stars

CAD concentrates on SUVs. Currently it offers three models – CEO, UFO and pick-up called Gonow– with five other new models coming in 2008. Here is where CAD’s very different business model kicks in – the cars are not sourced from a single Chinese manufacturer. Instead CAD shops around and buys specific models from different factories “We deal with five separate factories,” Schloessl said.

“We’re cheap and nice. Many people in Germany know Aldi ands Lidl – people want good quality at a cheap price – it’s the same with cars. We’re the Aldi and Lidl for the car market.” Dealers use the China Automobile brand because Chinese manufacturers have very complicated names. “We tell them it’s better to have one name for Europe – it’s very complicated to transfer this concept to the Chinese – they all wanted to have their name on sale,” said Schloessl.

While controversy reigned at the China Automobile stand, Brilliance, the other Chinese auto maker at Frankfurt, continues to tick all the right boxes. Following a well-received launch at Geneva in March, Brilliance has now started selling cars in Europe and launched a fourth new model, the BS2, at Frankfurt.

The company has also overcome its first setback – a poor showing in crash testing for its first model, the BS6 sedan. This gained only one EuroNCAP star – but Brilliance has rectified the situation by ordering a rapid redesign. Independent tests suggest the car will now gain three stars, something that pleases Hans-Ulrich Sachs, head of Brilliance’s European distributor HSO Motors Europe.

Sachs knows the car business – he launched Hyundai in Germany in 1991, he’s been a senior brand manager for Volkswagen, and he’s been CEO of Germany’s largest Ford dealer. Brilliance is BMW’s assembler in China, and signed a deal with HSO Motors to distribute its cars in 17 European markets in September 2006.

Currently only the BS6 is on sale in Germany, but the smaller BS4 saloon will come by the end of 2007 and the SC3 coupe will follow in early 2008. The BS2 hatch will arrive by October/November 2008, and more models will follow, including a Pininfarina-styled estate car at next year’s Geneva show.

Unfortunately, the UK will have to wait for Brilliance – the company currently has no plans to build RHD versions. “I don’t know when this will happen, “ says Sachs, who has the UK rights and would like to sell the cars here.

Brilliance is ambitious – its production capacity of 220,000 at moment – but by 2010, will have almost trebled this to 600,000. It is building a new factory for the BS2 beside the existing factory, and has a big plot of land for further growth.

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