Great Wall continues its offensive by unveiling the Feelfine for the first time at the motor show.
Without a doubt, the Feelfine takes its styling cues from the Toyota Ractis not sold in Europe. However the designers featured a new front fascia.
The Feelfine is powered by a 1.5-lityre petrol engine which delivers a power output of 109bhp.
Haima, subsidiary of FAW, short for First Automobile Works, has unveiled the Fushida Fstar, an electric small car which hasn’t been confirmed for production yet.
Finding reliable information about Chinese cars is quite a challenge and the small Haima model doesn’t breach the rules of etiquette. Its name isn’t even confirmed as it is quite common for Chinese carmaker to use different names for the same car. The electric Haima can be called Fushida, Haima or H1 e. Feel free to choose.
The power delivered by the electric engine remains unknown. According the Haima, the batteries need 4-5 hours to be fully recharged and uses a Regenerative braking system to recharge the batteries. The carmaker claims the small car has a 50 miles range at a continuous speed of 60mph.
Dongfeng has unveiled a civil version of the EQ2050 Hanma, a Chinese copy of the Hummer H1.
Like Great Wall, Dongfeng looked at the West to take inspiration for its military vehicle. Like Toyota did with the forgotten Mega Cruiser, Dongfeng copied the famous Hummer H1. Initially targeted for military use, a strong demand pushed Dongfeng to build a more civilised version.
Details remain scarce on the technology embedded in the EQ2050 Hanma. However, it is believed that this version will feature an auto-radio with CD player unavailable on the military version.
Great Wall has displayed the Phenom i7 at the Beijing Motor Show. The small car takes its styling cues from the Toyota Yaris.
While some Chinese carmakers makes the jump to acquire strategic skills to design unique cars, Great Wall still belongs to the group which copies the Western models without a shame. After the Peri which copied the Fiat Panda, the Phenom i7 copies the Toyota Yaris.
Not really concerned by a law suit from the Japanese giant, Great Wall is more worried that it hasn’t decided on the name yet. Sometimes, the small car is dubbed Phenom, i7 or Ling Ao. With a rear end that copies so well the Yaris, why not renaming the Phenom to Yari.
A five-seater, the Phenom i7 is available with a choice of two petrol engines, a 1.3-litre unit and a 1.5-litre unit which are compliant with the Euro IV regulation. The equipment includes two airbags, driver and passenger, ABD and EBD.
Geely has brought out the big guns at the Beijing Motor Show by launching many new vehicles. Among them, there was the FC-E, a hybrid-powered saloon which embeds an interesting technology.
Without a doubt, the Beijing Motor Show is devoted to electric and hybrid vehicles. However, while other motor shows didn’t favourise any technologies, the Chinese motor show put the emphasis on electric solutions. The Geely FC-E is powered by a 92bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine and a smaller electric unit which delivers a power output of 40bhp. The figures are similar to that of the Toyota Prius.
What’s interesting about the Geely mode is the batteries used to store the energy. Instead of the lithium-ion batteries, the Chinese carmaker has embedded lithium-metal-phosphate batteries, more secured and more stable than the lithium-ions. Those batteries had been invented by the university of Texas in 1997 and are currently being developed by A123 Systems in the US.
Geely has dubbed its electric solution EEBS, short for Electronic Equation Balance System.
Great Wall fears nothing. Despite a threat from Fiat over the Peri model which is a carbon copy of the Panda, the Chinese carmaker launched the Peri and has unveiled an electric version at the Beijing Motor Show.
The electric Peri is powered by a 67bhp electric engine and relies and lithium-ion batteries to store the energy. The carmaker claims the electric Peri achieves a 112 miles range and a top speed of 90mph.
Plugged on a special terminal, the Peri can be 70% recharged in 10 minutes. However details remain scarce.
Along with the surprising E6, BYD has also displayed the hybrid-powered F3 and F6 models once again already seen at Detroit and Geneva.
Less exciting than the E6 concept, the F3 and F6 are powered by a dual-mode hybrid solution which offers a 70 miles range in electric mode. A small petrol engine recharges the batteries while running like a generator. Unlike the E6 which comes with a lithium-ion battery pack, the F3 and F6 are equipped with normal batteries which penalize the recharging time. The F3 takes 10 hours to get fully charged. Aware of the problem, BYD has featured a second plug on the F6 enabling the batteries to be filled more quickly when plugged to a special device.
The F3 is a previous generation Toyota Corolla revamped by BYD while the F6 is a unique saloon sold as a flagship on the Chinese market.
The Chinese carmaker has unveiled the E6 model, an all-electric car, which might go on sale within two years.
The E6 is available with two engines options. The entry level is powered by two electric engines, a 100bhp unit at the front and a 53bhp unit at the rear and weighs 2,020 kg. The other version, which weighs 2,175 kg, is powered by only one engine at the front which delivers 214bhp. Both versions are reported to feature lithium-ion batteries which enables the two cars to achieve a 186 miles range. What’s interesting about the E6 is its ability to charge its recharge its batteries at 80% in 15 minutes.
BYD claims the entry version reaches a top speed of 87mph while the topping version achieves 115mph. The two versions runs the 0-62mph in just 9.2 seconds.
Not only the technical side looks promising, but BYD also had the idea to design an appealing car which combines an, estate and saloon styling cues. At 4550 mm long, the E6 will likely be roomy enough for five passengers.
There are plenty of hot hatches on the market, but they’re sometimes too common. So, Vauxhall has had the idea to launch a limited edition of the Astra VXR to celebrate the famous race track.
Based on the standard Astra VXR and priced at £21,295, each individually numbered Nürburgring edition will come with an exclusive all-white paint finish and lightweight white 18in alloy wheels, equipped with bespoke Dunlop tyres, are also specified. Other exterior features include dark tinted windows, carbon fibre effect mirrors and B-Pillars and distinctive chequered flag body graphics, to further emphasise the car’s incredible performance.
Mechanically similar to the standard VXR, the Nürburgring Edition produces 240bhp, giving it the ability to accelerate from 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph. Each UK-specification car will also come provided with a Remus Sports Exhaust, developed with Vauxhall’s BTCC race team, Triple-Eight Race Engineering, which provides a power increase of up to 15PS.
Like the standard car, the Nürburgring Edition benefits from a six-speed manual gearbox and lowered, uprated VXR suspension with ESP as standard. There are also the wider front and rear tracks and lower un-sprung weight offered by the new alloy wheels. Ventilated 321mm diameter disc brakes at the front and 278mm diameter discs at the back help slow things down, while blue-painted callipers remain a VXR trademark.
The Nürburgring Edition theme continues inside, with carbon fibre detailing on the door trims and fascia, bespoke leather seats with the Nürburgring circuit graphic embossed into the Recaro front seat backrests and an individually numbered plaque showing each car’s build number.
Optional extras include electronic climate control (£275), cruise control (£200), electric foldable door mirrors (£125) and adaptive forward lighting (£750).
In fact, the only thing it doesn’t come with is one of those Nürburgring bootlid stickers you can buy when you do a lap of the circuit. Such a shame, as it means you’ll have to drive it there and buy one yourself.
The Korean carmaker has announced plans for an unprecedented raft of new models due for production over the next few years.
From 2009 through to 2014, SsangYong will invest more than €1.9 billion/£1.5 billion in 20 new models based on five different platforms, with five new engines and with monocoque construction. It’s possible that world-famous Italian styling house, Italdesign, founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro, will be involved, having already styled the latest Rexton model.
SsangYong’s new diesel hybrid technology, unveiled at last month’s Geneva Motor Show, is likely to feature in the new model line-up. The South Korean company says that a diesel hybrid can slash CO2 emissions and improve fuel efficiency by 30 per cent.
Paul Williams, managing director of British distributor Koelliker UK said: “I have been able to see some of the new models and although I can’t reveal any details, I’m very excited about what’s coming. It’s unlikely that all 20 will be appropriate for the UK, but it will mean a wider and more attractive range with much greater choice for customers. There will be different body styles and engines including passenger cars that will enable us to compete strongly in new market sectors.”
In the UK SsangYong is best known for building vehicles with a bold desgin: the Kyron, Rexton and Rodius. Just weeks ago, SsangYong launched a new luxury car , the Chairman, as a direct competitor to BMW and Mercedes in the South Korean market.
