The Italian importer of Shuanghuan's vehicles Martin Motors presented Noble at the Bologna auto show to potential European buyers. The car will bear the name Bubble and will have new logo.

http://s2.mojalbum.com/avto10-foto_4219952_17470013_18948078.jpg

Martin Motors is determined to sell the China-built small car in Europe despite a legal challenge from Daimler AG, which claims the model is a copy of its Smart ForTwo.

Martin Motors, of Italy, has renamed the car the Bubble to avoid another legal dispute. British sports car maker Noble Automotive owns the Noble name in Europe.

Martin Motors spokeswoman Viviana Martinelli told Automotive News Europe that the Shuanghuan Bubble will make its Italian debut at the Bologna auto show Dec. 5. Sales will begin immediately afterward. The 68-hp, 1.1-liter Bubble will be priced above 9,000 euros (95,612 yuan) in Italy.

The Bubble will not be sold in Germany until the dispute with Daimler is resolved.

Martinelli thinks the Bubble cannot be confused with a Smart ForTwo.

"We are convinced a four-seat, front-engine, front-drive vehicle is quite different from a much shorter two-seater with a rear engine and rear drive," Martinelli says.

Martin Motors is the European distributor of vehicles built by Shuanghuan, which is based near Beijing. Shuanghuan has the capacity to build 30,000 vehicles a year.

Martinelli says Shuanghuan plans to make 1,000 units of the Bubble for Martin Motors this year.

Priced over €9,000...You can get a Smart FourTwo for that sum of money.

Besides Bubble which will go on sale in 2008, Martin Motors is also selling another notorious Shuanghuan - SCEO and Zhongxing Grand Tiger.

Official website:
http://www.martinmotors.it/

it will be interesting to see how many they sell in 1 year..im thinking not much

The argument of 4 seater, FWD should differentiate the car from the SmartForSomeone's engineering design from Daimler AG, IMO.

Martin Motors also started importing Chinese buses (King Long, Higer,...) to Italy, All the information, including pictures can be found on their web site:
http://www.martinmotors.it/Pulmann/ita/index.html

Newest models in their program are Lifan 520 and 520i:
http://www.martinmotors.it/Auto/ita/main.htm

http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-33-foto_4219952_17410325_18263609.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/es.autoblog.com/media/2008/12/2530_9484_martin_motors_mm520i_1.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8933/520ifq4.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/199/520oy3.jpg

Martin Motors presented another three Chinese vehicles under its brand. Coolcar is made by Changhe-Suzuki and goes by name Suzuki Landy in China. Freedom Cab and Ideal are sold under Changhe badge (as Freedom and Ideal).

Freedom Cab:
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396046.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396047.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396048.jpg


Coolcar:
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396023.jpg

http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396025.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-37-foto_4219952_17420218_18396045.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7315/04zf1.jpg

MM Ideal:
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7932/05bh9.jpg


more at:
http://es.autoblog.com/2008/12/07/salon-de-bolonia-martin-motors-freedom-cab-y-coolcar/

Thanks for the link of Martin Motors web site. Now i'm looking for it...

--
gilby

Martin Motors presented another three Chinese vehicles under its brand. Freedom Cab and Coolcar are made by Changhe-Suzuki and Ideal is of course product of Hafei of the same name.

I don't think that Hafei makes the Ideal, Martin. That's also a Chang'he product, but since both companies are part of the state-owned AviChina aviation company, I wouldn't be surprised if Martin Motors will be selling Hafei products soon too. Hafei needs the boost.

dragin, just as you were writing your reply I was in the middle of correcting my post. I hope I made it right now. All three vehicles are of course made by Changhe.
By the way what is going on at Hafei? Do Chinese plan to introduce any new model soon?

OK Martin, please delete my post.
As for Hafei they seem to be busy building Saibao bodies for the Miles Auto electric vehicles, in conjunction with Qingyuan Electric.
But I don't see any signs of a new product coming from them.
By the way it's interesting to see that Chang'he is allowing Martin Motors to rebadge their cars. I guess they are just happy to get this chance to enter the European market.

Not just Martin Motors. DR Motors, Ukrainan GROZ, German Dragon,... they are all selling Chinese vehicles under new 'European' brands.
They probably think European consumers don't trust Chinese companies yet and are more likely to buy Chinese product if they don't know the real origin of it.

I agree with you. Here in Italy, they don't use the original brand but they made one new. BTW Martin Motors has also GWM SCeo in their list.

--
gilby

Martin Motors @ Autoshow Praha 2009:
http://news.auto.cz/cesky-trh/autoshow-praha-2009.html


http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396145.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396143.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396144.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396146.jpg

To comply with Euro IV emissions rules, Martin is fitting all these vehicles with a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) system says Automotive News China.

Presentation of the Czech branch of Martin Motors:
http://news.auto.cz/cesky-trh/martin-motors-cinske-vozy-lifan-cesky-trh-ceny-technicka-data-vybavy.html

Martin Motors cz homepage:
http://www.martinmotors.cz/

Ideal:
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396141.jpg
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396142.jpg

CEO:
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396139.jpg

Interior of 520:
http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-38-foto_4219952_17421871_18396140.jpg

I was there today. It was very interesting. :-)

Martin Motors, Italian company which is responsible for import Lifan brand to Europe, shows several models at the Autoshow Praha 2009. The company has signed agreement with locally LUM-ORIS and will start sales Lifan brand in Czech Republic in next few days. Probably Shuanghuan CEO and two commercial vehicles produced by Changhe - Freedom i Coolcar - will join to offer in near future. At the Autoshow Praha 2009 visitors can also see Dongfeng brand represented by GAZ Auto Praha.

Source and pictures: www.autochiny.pl/en

Italian version of Shuanghuan Noble - Martin Motors Bubble will hit Italian market this October:
http://www.omniauto.it/magazine/12944/martin-motors-bubble

Translated with Google:

Nothing, there is no way to get rid of plagiarism, and worst of all is that not all claims against the intellectual right or win ... but tell that to Daimler, which has not been able to slow the entry into the European market Shuanghuan Noble.

According to the latest news, this clone of the Smart will be sold in Italy since October under the brand name and the name Martin Motors Bubble. Faced with the ForTwo, adds two additional rear seats and placed by ability level of the Toyota iQ. With 3.3 meters, is powered by a Suzuki parent engine with 1.1 liters and 68 hp, five speeds, and adapted to use unleaded petrol and LPG interchangeably.

In Italy only be sold with a single trim level that already includes air conditioning, power steering, electric windows, central locking with remote control, fog lights, alloy wheels, MP3 CD radio, power mirrors, etc. The suggested retail price of € 11,400 and between the main options are mixed fabric upholstery / leather (400 €), full leather upholstery (600 €) and glass roof (400 €).

http://s2.mojalbum.com/kitajci-14-foto_4219952_17393070_17991936.jpg

I was expecting a cheaper pricetag.
A Chevrolet Spark, a Citroen C1 or a Fiat Panda are all cheaper.