We knew Brilliance’s plan to export 158,000 sedans to Europe had taken a bit of a beating when the Chinese automaker’s European export partner folded back in November. Even before then, the ADAC’s now-infamous crash tests of Briliance’s BS6 and BS4 seemed likely to doom the brand’s early attempt at the European market. And now, according to Reuters, it’s official. Brilliance execs admit:
We have stopped exports to Europe. For now, we have no timetable for resuming the business
The chagrined executives blame rapidly-changing European regulations as well as the sedans’ poor reception, but one look at the ADAC’s crash test video tells you everything you need to know. And the videos certainly suggest that Brilliance’s premature attempt at cracking the European market has hurt future efforts by other Chinese firms, by confirming the worst fears about Chinese quality. European executives who have been living in fear of a Chinese invasion will probably sleep just a little bit better tonight.
16 Comments on “Brilliance! First Chinese Automaker In Europe Calls It Quits...”
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You’d think that Brilliance’s engineers would know that the “crumple zone” shouldn’t extend through the front seat into the back seat.
I don’t care how cheap Chinese cars are, if they all fold like this, they can keep them.
-ted
ADAC had the BS6 and BS4 “crash tested” just to scare people from Chinese cars, pure and simple. At least it was partly legitimate for the BS6 as seen above, but the BS4 was given an unfair, preposterous zero-star rating. The BS4 deserved at least 3 stars. Here’s what I wrote back then:
http://www.i3china.net/bs4
it makes you think whoever named the company “brilliance” was kind of a smart-ass.
Not at all: I was really looking forward to getting my very own upscale Brilliance BS-4Q.
They’re supposed to fold like that, Zerofoo. It’s part of the Chinese govt’s plan for population reduction. Between the infamous driving skills of our asian friends, the crash attributes seen in this video, and the relentless pollution, it’s all part of the Five Year Plan to reduce population by 2%. I know that based on the crap attributes of the stuff they already send here, there would be no way I’d waste my money on one.
Since the inception of C-NCAP, the stereotype that Chinese cars are unsafe is getting less and less accurate. Case in point: the Geely MK (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xkya4HxvI
Only 2 years after the CK/Otaka debacle, they were able to make a 3.5-4 star worthy car.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2 generations or so we’ll consistently see 4-5 star cars coming from China’s biggest automakers.
I guess Chinese automakers will have to earn top safety picks before they can get back the reputation, as with the Koreans. This is probably a good thing for them, as it will concentrated their effort on R&D instead of getting carried away with sales expansion.
Well, since TTAC readers all know that lots of safety gimmicks are useless and real men don’t get into accidents anyway because they drive well, they should be fine with driving the BS6!
that doesn’t account for the spoiled suburban soccer mom on the cell phone and applying lipstick though. she’s most likely driving a canyonero.
i drive a 23 year old 2,400lb car with zero air bags, no abs, no stability control, no computer aids at all and “A” pillers thinner then paper. so i’d have to say you’re statement is correct.
it does have traction control however, a right foot and a left foot.
As documented before, there had been shenanigans with the German crash testing, especially by the ADAC. But Brilliance is done.
Take a good look at a rare thing; a Chinese retreat.
I wouldn’t get too used to it.
This whole story might be bogus:
” The Chinese automaker Brilliance has likely pulled out of Europe. A Reuters reported earlier today that Brilliance has halted its exports to Europe. Another report from the Global Times disputes the Reuters story, claiming that the company, “will never pull out of Germany and Europe, even though it is confronted with bleak sales and thin profit margins.””
http://www.motobullet.com/news.php?id=10222
I recall one crash test video of a Chinese car where the test crew could be heard audibly laughing at the results. That’s never a good sign.
I do love the giant shard of glass flying at the camera in this video though. Good thing it had airbags, otherwise somebody might’ve gotten hurt!
Russian Autoreview has also tested Chinese cars, and without exception they’ve performed horribly.
Chinese C-NCAP testing is done at 55 km/h, not 64, and the cars are submitted to the tests by the factories, not bought off the market. The build quality of standard-production Chinese vehicles is much worse, with sloppy welds that’ve burned through the metal, parts made from cheaper materials and thinner sheet steel.
Interestingly enough the top selling mag here (still profitable business) pulled a Effa M100 (???) from their long test of cars, when they buy and drive a car for 60k km. While the mag’s thinking of whjat constitutes a long term test is way off line (since they have to get to that limit in aabout a years time so the cars spend about 70 or 80% of their time on the road and thus the methodology is flawed), this was the 1st time a car was pulled off the test ’cause it was deemed unsafe to drive (at 45k km). I think they still have a long way to go.