14th October, 2008

One very noticeable feature of the Paris Motor Show this year was the big time absence of the Chinese manufacturers, as just two small Chinese manufacturers made an appearance.

Whereas the previous Paris Motor Show, in 2006, saw major displays from several manufacturers, notably SUV-makers Great Wall and Landwind. This year two low-key displays from Brilliance and China Automobile France are evident, but there was no word from Great Wall.

It seems the combination of tough European conditions, a focus on serving the fast-growing China market, and difficulties in adequately meeting European emissions and crash-testing standards, have dissuaded the Chinese from making a major play for Europe right now.

And while some of the manufacturers, notably Great Wall, drew interest for some of their designs in 2006, they have yet to sign up any distributors in major European markets.

Great Wall has managed to sign-up a distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Although slated for an Australian release in 2009, Great Wall was rescheduled for an early release this month. However, the local release has now been put back to next year.

But with failure facing Great Wall in Europe, it seems Australia and New Zealand are the only markets that Great Wall will have outside of the home market in China. But with so much negative publicity for Chinese brands in Europe, is there even a market for cheap Chinese products in Australia?

The Chinese brand 'Brilliance' is already selling cars in Europe, and is rolling out a range of models in a number of markets, but progress has been slow, and a poor EuroNCAP score has done its image no good. In fact, Brilliance (yet another odd name from China given the obvious contradiction) is not the only Chinese brand to suffer humiliating crash test results.

The same problems – especially a much-publicised independent crash test – has sent Landwind back to the drawing board. The company now plans to wait until it has more suitable models before making a play in Europe.

The other Chinese exhibitor, at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, was the French division of China Automobile Deutschland, the controversial German company that caused a major hoo-ha at last year’s Frankfurt Show, when it upset a number of manufacturers by showing cars that were blatant copies of established models, including the BMW X5 and Toyota RAV4.

One of these cars – the X5-lookalike Shuanghuan CEO – was on show, and is about to go on sale with a €25,990 price tag. But the RAV4-resembling Jonway UFO wasn’t on show – it’s “being restyled”, which will cause some delays to its launch, the company says.

Instead, China Automobile France showed two new original models – a leisure-oriented lightweight 4x4 called the Kiff. This is made by Shanghai Xingyue Power Machinery co, and is powered by a 812 cc three-cylinder Chery petrol engine. It’s on sale now.