David Mason's take on the Beijing Motor Show
Geely GT
By David Mason, 01st May 2010
The Beijing Show is rapidly becoming one of the major motor shows in the global car industry calendar and with established manufacturers trying to get a foothold in the massive and growing Chinese market; they always make an effort to put on a good show to compete with some of the more unusual offerings from the domestic manufacturers.
This year’s show was no different; however there were four distinct themes.
The first and most immediate was the strong showing of luxo-barges at the show, the new Audi A8 limo, BMW Echo and new Phaeton flanked by the Mercedes Shooting Brake.
BMW has always been keen to experiment and develop new powertrains (Hydrogen 7 series) and the Echo is a continuation of that ethos, developed in China in conjunction with Shanyang university as a way of seeing just how advanced Chinese electrical car tech is, so that they back up their claims.
Fake MINI? The Lifan 320.
VW has chosen Beijing to unveil its new Phaeton, perhaps to demonstrate how important China is to the future of this model, with otherwise low global sales figures and no signs of making any inroads to the 7-Series, S-Class, A8 trinity - the continuation of the model line will surprise many onlookers but China, as a fresh market with rapid growth offers their best chance for some return on their investment.
The Shooting Break from Mercedes is presented as a concept but is viewed by most as a ‘CLS Estate’, the long rear overhang and the high roofline suggest that this is a car designed to fulfil a brief including load carrying ability rather than as a design study.
Overall these cars, combined with other additions such as the Geely GS suggest that the manufacturers are anticipating a strong recovery in the luxury market.
Yangfeng Visteon
The second trend is the continuation of the Chinese domestic brands search for a design identity, Following the lead of the Japanese in the '60s where they picked bits of a car they liked and then used them as inspiration (e.g. Toyota 200GT:Mustang) Geely has presented another Phantom-esque GS, Lifan defend their 320 (its not a MINI, it just has the grille, the rest is horrendous) and Shanghuang with their “Not a Smart” Auto. It‘s refreshing to see the Yangfeng Visteon and IAT Crosswind with their distinctive form following function designs.
The third trend that was evident at the Beijing motorshow was the globalisation of the Chinese brands, Geely (chinas biggest car company) has a target to export 2 out of 3 of their cars and with sales exploding from 200 in 1998 to 330,000 in 2009, you can‘t underestimate this company's ability. Now that it owns Volvo, this might just be the platform it needs to storm new markets with the Gleagle GS, possibly targeting the Hyundai coupe market. Its a similar tale at SAIC, which is using the now Chinese-owned MG with the MG6 and more promisingly the MG Zero, perhaps the car MG needed instead of the CityRover, to get into the European market using European-based design centres.
Merc's Shooting Break CLS Estate thing
Chana is another Chinese company that may soon be making its presence felt here. With sales up by 92% in 09 and an Italian-based design center, it would be a logical step.
These companies will have been watching the success of Hyundai and Kia over the past year and witnessed the crumbling of badge snobbery and loyalty at the entry level of the market.
Some of the cars seen at Beijing could soon be very relevant to us.
The fourth and final theme is the most dominant one of all shows this year: environmentally friendly cars.
The Chinese government is leading the way with investment into electric cars, help fund projects like the Echo and encouraging projects like the Chana Green I and Yangfeng Visteon. With a rapidly growing market and cheap coal power rather than oil reserves, combined with little drivetrain prejudice, China is well positioned to supply the world with its cheap electric cars.
So Beijing 2010; not a classic year however it‘s one that could have more importance to us than previous shows, as it seeks to emulate ’70s Japan and Noughties Korea, aspiring to become serious players on the global car stage.
