Filed under: Euro, Safety, Videos, Chery
VIDEO: Chrysler might want to reconsider that Chery deal
Chrysler might want to take another look at its deal with China's Chery Motors to build small cars for it after another video of a European crash test has popped up on YouTube. Russian car magazine AutoRevu had a Chery Amulet sedan crash-tested in accordance with the EuroNCAP standards. After going through the frontal offset crash, the car appears to have done even worse than the Brilliance BS6, which recently earned a one-star rating. The dummy in the Amulet had to be removed in pieces, and the magazine, AvtoRevu, is now calling for the car to be pulled from the market. Check out the video after the jump.
[Sources: Detroit News, YouTube, AutoRevu]
Our most famous China car crash post, with photo gallery and videos of crash:
In German crash test, China's Brilliance BS6 sedan fails miserably
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
SHOTT3R 9:38AM (8/12/2007)
My entire body just cringed at that.
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500 4:52PM (8/12/2007)
Ironically, the definition of an Amulet is "an object that protects a person from trouble." Yeah, right.
Ok clearly what we Americans need to do is export all of our lawyers to China. They'll put those Chinese automakers out of business real quick! Then we won't need to worry about Chinese autos coming here for oh, another 50 years...
JimmyTheMonkey 1:11PM (8/13/2007)
Mother of Dod...
JimmyTheMonkey 1:11PM (8/13/2007)
Mother of God...
akx 3:19PM (8/13/2007)
i don't think 'crumple' zones are supposed to do like that...
British_Rover 9:58AM (8/12/2007)
Ahh that will buff out.
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EM 10:01AM (8/12/2007)
And people question the engineering and build quality of Chinese cars, see there is nothing wrong with them!
/sarcasm.
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Ols 10:03AM (8/12/2007)
Crikey! Is that car made of rice paper?? It looks like their version of the old SEAT Toledo, but even that couldn't have done so badly when it was around more than 10 years ago! I predict (and hope there will be) a flurry of crash tests for all these Chinese models set to come to Europe/America on the back of this and Brilliance!
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iamhoff 7:25PM (8/12/2007)
What I want to know is, did they really think that their cars wouldn't be crash-tested? They had to know that the EU and USA both would require crash-testing before allowing their sale, so did they actully employ engineers in the design of the cars, or did they simply copy the basic "style" of a western car and not worry about the support structure beneath the sheetmetal (a term I use loosely here)?
alex 10:03AM (8/12/2007)
haven't you guys ever heard of a crumple zone? they make cars safer, that's why the govt here mandates them. chery decided to make this car so safe that they made the entire car a crumple zone.
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Dr. Greenthumb 10:37AM (8/12/2007)
No they have not. they're building cars to the standards ofthe mid 1960s, and it's not just the Chinese car makers. All major car companies that build crs for the domestic chinese market build to these standards. BMW, GM, Mercedes. It increases the profit margin.
No crumple zones, no side impact beams etc. Not required by Chinese law. See the SLS that you all crave? Will not pass most of these tests either. It's smart (but immoral) business.
Cars that are imported into China are much better than the ones built there. I doubt that BMW would set up a chinese market only line. So in these cases they may be getting cars that are of a better standard.
cheezwiz 10:43AM (8/12/2007)
I'm pretty sure the crumple zone isn't supposed to include the passenger cabin...
Vega 11:59AM (8/12/2007)
@Dr. Greenthumb: I doubt BMW and Mercedes redesign the chinese-built versions of their cars (e.g. 5 series BMW) in order to exclude integral safety features like crumple zones. The expensive thing about these features is the designing process, which has already been done (and paid for) when the cars were first developed with the western markets in mind. Redesigning them to exlude these integral construction features would be much more expensive than the savings from a slightly cheaper production process.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:13PM (8/12/2007)
You had me until your blind faith in BMW.
GM is no more evil than BMW. Both like to make money.
If BMW wants to sell their cars in China, they'll need to partner with a company (it's the law) like Shanghai GM. And their local partner may wish to modify the cars to better meet the domestic market.
alex 12:14PM (8/12/2007)
i guess some people missed that my post was a joke...
Jamar 2:37PM (8/12/2007)
"If BMW wants to sell their cars in China, they'll need to partner with a company (it's the law) like Shanghai GM."
They already have. I don't know which company they went with, but I do know that BMW sells cars in China (and up to international standards too) because I currently live in Shanghai and am considering a car.
clevershark 7:15PM (8/12/2007)
No crumple zone? *Au contraire*, alex, the Chery people just designed this car to crumple all the way to the back seat...
Fosterdad 10:24AM (8/12/2007)
First it was dog food, then toys, then toothpaste. Now it's cars apparently made from aluminum foil. If the Chinese can't make something as simple as toothpaste, how can we expect them to make a safe car?
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bathtub gin 1:58PM (8/12/2007)
Fosterdad - don't forget the 450k tires that were ordered recalled.
coldwarmth 10:27AM (8/12/2007)
OK but shluoldn't this type of test be done before a car enters the market????
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