Chinese cars gun for European market

For the first time in its long history the Geneva International Motor Show is playing host to a Chinese manufacturer.
Brilliance, based in Shenyang, is looking to use the annual event as a springboard for cracking the Swiss and European markets. But are motorists ready to buy a Chinese car?

One man who has no doubts is Hans-Ulrich Sachs, chairman and managing director of HSO Motors Europe, which is responsible for setting up a distribution network for Brilliance.He dismisses talk of the poor reliability and poor reputation of Chinese cars as not something that concerns Brilliance."We have well-proven technology as far as the engine and the gearbox are concerned – a Mitsubishi engine and Mitsubishi gearbox – so there are no surprises. Reliability is not really an issue for us," he told swissinfo.As for why someone should buy the Brilliance BS6 saloon, Sachs is equally forthright: "Because it's big, it has a lot of features – for instance leather, automatic air conditioning, distance parking control – and it has an appropriate price."In Switzerland, which has been identified by HSO as a priority market along with Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, the car will sell for SFr28,000-30,000 ($23,000-24,600).But while reliability may not be a problem for Brilliance, it is a weakness that appears to plague much of China's automobile industry.According to the French-language version of Switzerland's Automobile Review magazine, up to 80 per cent of Chinese models are affected by more or less serious faults within the first six months.

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