Following its utterly calamitous performance in crash tests conducted by Germany's ADAC, Chinese automaker Brilliance said that it would work with the German body to improve the car's safety. To be honest, we don't know if any such changes have been designed or implemented yet, but apparently, Brilliance has done something.
According to a wire report carried by Forbes.com, the Brilliance BS6 has been tested by Spain's Idiada Automotive Technologies SA. Unlike the test in Germany earlier this summer, the Brilliance garnered a 3-star rating as it passed the test performed in accordance with Euro NCAP guidelines. According to Brilliance, that's the best rating ever for a Chinese car tested under the European standards. According to the report, Brilliance plans on using this test success to drum up business in Europe and the US. Unfortunately, we haven't come across any photos or video of the Spanish test yet. If and when we do, we'll post them so you can compare them to the ADAC test the car failed earlier in the summer.
[Source: AFX News via Forbes.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Viv @ Sep 13th 2007 12:41PM
I don't care how many stars this thing got, i ain't getting in one if my life depended on it (Oh wait, my life would probably end if i got in one).
Barney @ Sep 15th 2007 12:04AM
I guess if you get in accidents enough, you will end up dead. It may be irrelevant to anyone who avoids accidents though. Consider the fact that when YOU get in an accident, it effects other drivers as well.
Tsunami Racer @ Sep 13th 2007 12:43PM
i've actually seen this car in person in shanghai and i gotta admit, i stopped and took a look at it. it's a good "looking" car inside and out (engineering or build quality, i don't know).
compared to other chinese companies and their horrible "chinese original designs" or the "xerox copy of japanese and german designs", the brilliance cars stand out as the first steps in real chinese built cars that could possibly suceed outside china.
ello @ Sep 13th 2007 12:52PM
Well, Spaniards are not known for their reliability and their ability to work so I would take those tests with a grain of salt. Besides, this thing looks like a copy of Daewoo Nubira. Chinese are getting worse and worse at who they choose to copy. One thing to copy Germans but another to copy Koreans who copy others themselves.
Ben @ Sep 13th 2007 1:08PM
It's not a copy of a Daewoo, if anything it's the Daewoo who copied from Lancia.
M0L0TOV @ Sep 13th 2007 1:21PM
No offense, but that is the most ignorant statement I've ever heard. I agree the Spanish work ethic is not the greatest but most Mediterranean countries aren't much better off (Portugal, Italy, Greece, etc.). Spain is a part of the European Union, therefore, they have to adhere to the same safety standards as the rest of the EU. For example, the Nissan Navara (aka Frontier), Nissan Pathfinder, Ford Focus, Ford Ka, Seat(s), and Mazda 2 are manufactured in Spain and they adhere to the same quality/standards as the Nissans or Fords manufactured in the states or other foreign countries.
After the dismal crash test results in Germany, Brilliance decided to go back to the drawing board and reengineer the vehicle to pass ENCAP tests. I'm not trying to bash you ello but do your research first. If you think Spanish reliability isn't the greatest, may I suggest an extremely reliable British or Italian car? ;)
Pelagius @ Sep 13th 2007 3:27PM
Well, I suppose that´s like saying that americans are not known by their ability to elect a reasonabily intelligent person as their head of state, and their unability to keep their economy and currency value remotely competitive to that of the leading economies in the world (like the EU, to which spain belongs). Pure cliche, isn´t it?.
Cheers.
danms6 @ Sep 13th 2007 3:30PM
M0L0TOV -
While calling his comment ignorant, your counter was almost as bad. Did Brilliance really redesign the car or just use the same one in a different test and manage to get a better rating? Do your research first.
Holbach @ Sep 13th 2007 3:36PM
Well, I'm spanish, and I agree we are not the best when it comes to engineering and manufacturing, but this is Europe, and we have the same security standards as Germany or England. So if that piece of crap got a 3 star rating, it's because it deserved it, somehow. ;-)
And off topic: Why most of you americans think we are some kind of third world country in the southern border of Mexico? It's a European country, and we are the 9th wealthiest nation in the world! It's like saying that you are English or Australian because you speak the same language.
Please forgive my English ;-)
ello @ Sep 13th 2007 3:50PM
Molotov, do you really think that the Chinese would be able to redesign their car in about 2-3 months (the German test was done approximately that long ago) to redo the testing? I think that most high-end companies would have trouble redesigning the structure of a car in 2-3 months and yet the Chinese miraculously were able to pull it off :::rolls eyes:::
ello @ Sep 13th 2007 3:51PM
@Pelagius, if you haven't noticed, the falling dollar is nothing else than a speculation by US government, they are at war with Iraq now, they have large debt mainly with China, I don't think that a strong dollar would be very wise right now. From all the countries in the world, I would say that US banking system/federal reserve knows what they are doing with the dollar and as long as they have 50% of worlds gold reserve, over the long run they will be fine.
If anything, I would be worried about Eu because their population is aging big time, population growth is at minimal, and the socialistic taxes are rising, so pound for pound, dollar for dollar, I'll still be able to buy more with US dollar on US soil than you in France with Euro, or UK with pound. Exchange rates only matter to speculation and immigrants, to average American citizen it means nothing as $1 = $1 in USA. If anything, European manufactured goods prices are increasing, making it less and less competitive with US goods and thats a huge loss of EU as USA is the worlds largest economy.
And as far as Bush is concerned, we only have to bare with him for over a year. After that I don't think we will select a bigger idiot than him in next years election as I don't think thats possible.
Andrew @ Sep 13th 2007 8:24PM
@ello
Actually you are very wrong in regards to the population of the European Union. Because the EU recently expanded to encompass most of central and eastern Europe the demographics changed dramatically. And then there's also the tax incentive programmes like that in France - giving a major boost to child births! In fact France has turned the tide with it's programme. Besides we have all of Russia and the former Soviets coming in - plenty of cheap, white young workers!
Our major currency, the Euro, is worth far more than the US dollar because Europe has a larger economy than the US! And just within the EU we have a market of over 450 million people (versus your 300 m).
The latest OECD report found that Europeans work less, but more effectively, earning more money than the average US citizen thus compensating for any purchasing power differences. We also enjoy a minimum of four (4) weeks legally required holiday time.
As for your claims of socialism: the majority of representatives in the European Parliament are Conservative. The socialists died with the Soviet Union. And the "socialist" tag is so wrong - it just goes to show you know nothing about European countries. The US has had "socialist" programmes since New Deal. Get over it.
As for taxes - most Americans tend to repeat that old myth that Europeans pay high taxes. Because we have 47 countries some will have high taxation, some very low. Living in one with high taxation, I actually know that US taxes are not that low in sum compared with ours. But then again we have free schools, healthcare and pensions etc.
ello @ Sep 13th 2007 9:26PM
@Andrew, Euro is a speculative currency, it is not based upon any natural resouce such as gold or oil (like US dollar). Euro is not used in whole of European Union, countries such as Germany and Italy (they were thinking of holding a referendum to bring back the mark and lira) already regret switching it's currency to Euro as all it did was increase prices of goods while base salaries didn't budge a whole lot. US dollar is still the international currency of choice, it is more widely used than Euro.
Current Euro is higher than dollar simply because US wants the dollar to be low, not because the Euro has such a high value. When Euro was first introduced, at the very beginning it was higher valued than the dollar but then for few years dollar was much higher than the Euro, now the Euro is higher than dollar, it's economic speculation. Also, corelated to current status of dollar is the big US debt caused by Iraq and Afghanistan conflict. Remember that before US got involved in warfare with those two countries, dollar held a higher value than Euro.
And Russia will never join the EU simply because they have the EU by it's balls with it's huge assortment of natural resources which EU will depend on in near future. So Russia won't need EU as much as EU will need Russia, and the countries from the eastern block are not the solution for the aging population of EU because those countries also have almost zero population growth rate and if anything they are a burden on EU because EU needs to invest a whole lot more in to them then they are receiving back.
And not all EU countries want to use the Euro currency because as mentioned, most of the early adopters regret it. And last but not least, EU will never equal to USA simply because of the historic and cultural reasons, there will always be some kind of discrepancy between countries. Look at what is happening between Poland and Germany.
And USA still has higher GDP per capita than most European countries excluding maybe Ireland and Norway (which is not a part of EU). USA also has richer natural resources but because of it's politics it depends on other countries when in fact it has plenty of oil on it's own soil.
And I know so much about both continents because I am originally from Europe but currently live in USA and to tell you the truth US doesn'thave the culture, history, architecture of Europe which I miss but there is no better country in the world to make money than USA. Europe is nice for vacation but when it all comes down to business I would rather stick in US.
Imp @ Sep 13th 2007 1:00PM
It's only a matter of time. The Chinese will adapt and build vehicles capable of meeting all crash testing standards ... then their value will launch them into higher sales number echelons.
It's unavoidable no matter the present hatred.
Stoneman @ Sep 13th 2007 1:40PM
I shall never own a Chinese knockoff car. And you can quote me on that. I would rather drive a Lada than a Chinese car. And that's saying alot.
Imp @ Sep 13th 2007 2:13PM
Stoneman, your ilk will lessen in number ... money (wealth or lack of it) is a powerful force, and the less you have to pay, the easier the pain of assimilating.
Tagg @ Sep 14th 2007 2:59AM
"I shall never own a Chinese knockoff car. And you can quote me on that. I would rather drive a Lada than a Chinese car. And that's saying alot."
Thats what everyone said about Japanese cars too, then they said the same thing about driving a Hyundai too which by the way had their share or knock offs as well like the old Kia Amanti which is a mix of Jag S-Type and Mercedes E-Class.
See a pattern here?
bill @ Sep 13th 2007 1:02PM
I agree that anything coming out of Spain is suspect since the Spanish rolled over and played dead after the terrorist bombing of their trains a few years ago. No guts - no glory.
Holbach @ Sep 13th 2007 3:47PM
Oh, God. I won't even bother to answer that ignorant statement. Enjoy your glory while your soldiers try to keep their guts inside their bodies.
And again, forgive my english.
Barney @ Sep 13th 2007 10:56PM
Typical American. It's comments like that which make them so well respected. I guy like this would never understand why he would be spit on if he ever dared to see the rest of the world. He will never understand that his statement reflects on ALL Americans.