[CCF mod]

Candidates for the 2011 car of the year in China are as follows:

* Audi Q5
* BMW 5 series
* Brilliance BS4
* Buick Excelle XT
* Buick Excelle GT
* BYD G3
* BYD L3
* BYD M6
* Chang'an Yue Xiang
* Chang'an CX30
* Chang'an BenBen Mini
* Chery Cowin1
* Chery Fulwin2
* Chery A3
* Chery Tiggo3
* Chevrolet Sail
* Chevrolet Sail Sedán
* Citroën C5
* DFM JingYi
* Dongfeng H30
* Dongfeng Shuai MPV
* Europestar L3
* Europestar L3 sedan
* FAW Xiali N5
* FAW Xiali V2
* Great Wall Phenom
* Great Wall Florid Cross
* Great Wall Voleex C30
* Great Wall Hover M2
* Great Wall V80
* Haima M1
* Haima2
* Haima S7
* Huatai T9
* Hyundai Verna
* Hyundai ix35
* JAC B15
* JAC BMPV
* Kia Soul
* Mazda6
* Mercedes Clase E
* Mercedes Viano
* Mitsubishi Zinger
* MG6
* Nissan Micra
* Nissan NV200
* Peugeot 408
* Rely X5
* Rely H5
* Riich G5
* Riich X1
* Roewe 350
* Skoda Octavia RS
* Toyota Reiz
* Toyota Crown
* Toyota Prado
* VW Jetta
* VW Golf GTI
* VW Magotan CC
* VW Tiguan
* Wuling Hongguang

source:
http://auto.sina.com.cn/z/carofyear2011/

 

[green car driver]

Why so many? I think there's only 10 cars competing for the title in Europe... I'd vote for the Nissan Micra, because it's a no-nonsense car with good engineering behind it. Runner-up, the Haima 2 C-Sport because I like its design.

 

[daewoo-chevrolet]

Why so many? I think there's only 10 cars competing for the title in Europe... I'd vote for the Nissan Micra, because it's a no-nonsense car with good engineering behind it. Runner-up, the Haima 2 C-Sport because I like its design.

In Europe there were 41 candidates and the jury chose the seven nominees (Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Citroën C3/DS3, Dacia Duster, Ford (Grand) C-MAX), Nissan Leaf, Opel Meriva and Volvo S60/V60).

 

[daewoo-chevrolet]

My favourites of the locals are:

ChangAn Benben Mini: very cheap, quality level and design looks a lot better than the similarly priced Chery QQ, the design is original (well, maybe except for the Toyota Aygo/Citroën C1/Peugeot 107-platform)
ChangAn Yuexiang: The quality level of the local ChangAn products looks at the photos better than most of its competitors. Design is original and OK.
Chery A3: The A3 did already have perfect looks and an impressive safety level, but the interior needed to be overhauled. With the new interior and a decent 1.6 DVVT engine the A3 is more competitive than ever. It could be even better with the new 1.3S (Riich G3) and 1.6S (Tiggo) engines.
Great Wall Voleex C30: The first Great Wall which is truly not a clone. The prices are competitive, the quality level seems to be fine. BYD could learn a lot of Great Wall.
JAC Heyue: The Chery A3 and JAC Heyue (+ Brilliance Splendor [BS4] and Hafei Saibao III/V) are both designed by Pininfarina, and I must say that those are the best looking Chinese sedans in its segment. The interior looks great too and the prices are competitive.
JAC Heyue RS: Extremely competitive prices for such a roomy MPV with a powerful 1.8 liter engine, the design is absolutely not inferior to European competitors like the Renault Grand Scénic, Toyota Verso, the horrible Mazda5 facelift and ugly and dull facelifted Volkswagen Touran. The interior styling is also great.
MG6: hatchback version of the Roewe 550. According to the British magazine AutoExpress it's even the best drive in it's class. The interior looks very stylish and the interior materials seem to be top-notch for a Chinese car.
Riich X1: Nice stationcar version of my favourite Chinese A00 car, the M1, with a crossover look. Quality wise an immense leap over the QQ.
Roewe 350: A lot more affordable than the 550. For the price, the interior looks impressive and the exterior styling is great too. More balanced than a lot of foreign competitors.
Wuling Hongguang: Just a true and honest people carrier, fills the gap perfectly between the microvans and more expensive MPVs.
Xiali V2: Just a clean and simple design.

My vote goes to the JAC Heyue RS.

 

[daewoo-chevrolet]

My opinion about the rest of the locals:

Brilliance Splendor (BS4): It still looks great, but it's getting old, plus they ruined the interior in the facelifted model.
BYD G3: Based on F3, so it's also a copy of the (previous generation) Toyota Corolla (EX)
BYD L3: Based on F3/G3, so it's also a copy of the (previous generation) Toyota Corolla (EX)
BYD M6: Clone of the Toyota Estima. BYD is one of my least favourite Chinese manufacturers because their complete line-up is cloned.
ChangAn Zhixiang CX30: Nice hatchback of the underestimated Zhixiang, however the proportions are like the Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback not great
Chery Cowin 1: Horrible facelift of the dated QQ6, which was quite ugly too, but at least the QQ6 had some character
Chery Fulwin 2 hatchback: the liftback looks great, the hatchback miserable
Chery Tiggo: Facelifted version of a dated clone of the previous generation Toyota RAV4. The 1.6S engine is impressive, however.
Dongfeng Joyear: why is the Joyear leading at the Chinese internet voters? It's a wannabe Mitsubishi Grandis, moreover a clone of the previous generation Renault Scénic
Dongfeng Fengshen H30: good-looking hatchback version of the impressive Fengshen S30
Dongfeng Shuai MPV: based on the 2nd generation Nissan Serena
Europestar L3: an already dated Proton
Europestar L3 sedan: an already dated Proton
Great Wall Phenom: (Flopped) copy of the Toyota Yaris.
Great Wall Florid Cross: Cross version of the Florid, thus a copy of the Scion xA/previous generation Toyota ist.
Great Wall Haval/Hover M2: Cross version of the flopped Coolbear, thus a copy of the previous generation Scion xB/Toyota bB.
Great Wall Voleex V80: just a reintroduction of the flopped Cowry, still a copy of the previous generation Toyota Noah
Haima Prince: Copy of the Chevrolet Spark/Daewoo Matiz; Changan Benben Mini is a much better deal for the same money
Haima2 Cupid: Haima must learn to stand on their own legs and not trying to imitate Mazdas
Haima7 Knight: Based on Mazda Tribute architecture, the design resembles a little too much with (a shrunken version of) the Hyundai Santa Fe. Except for that it's one of the best (looking) SUVs of the local automakers, but it's expensive too
Huatai Terracan: Well, it was a licensed Hyundai Terracan, but now with their own logos. Applause for Huatai...
Rely X5: One of the biggest disappointments of Chery in the last years.
Rely H5: Copy of the JDM Toyota Hiace?
Riich G5: Very nice sedan, but the introduction is 4 years too late (introduced as Chery A6 4,5 years ago!)
Xiali N5: Quite nice for such a small and cheap sedan, but the safety levell is poor (C-NCAP)

 

[green car driver]

In Europe there were 41 candidates and the jury chose the seven nominees (Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Citroën C3/DS3, Dacia Duster, Ford (Grand) C-MAX), Nissan Leaf, Opel Meriva and Volvo S60/V60).

Few people give any importance to the list of candidates, of course, I was referring to the list of nominees.

Is there something like this in China? Is that long list a list of nominees or something else?

I just got the release that the Honda CR-Z is car of the year in Japan, that's a great car, I hope it will be available in China soon.

 

[Rally Red Lancer GTS]

In Europe there were 41 candidates and the jury chose the seven nominees (Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Citroën C3/DS3, Dacia Duster, Ford (Grand) C-MAX), Nissan Leaf, Opel Meriva and Volvo S60/V60).

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta is an enthusiast driver's car. It has a 168 hp MultiAir Turbo engine and different driving settings built in to enhance the hold you need for the turns you're in, sport tune option (right in the option package, no extra charge for this) and so on. Bluetooth, NAV, Bose stereo, etc.

I configured a Veloce model, which has some extra things like red stitching in the black leather interior, and it came to about $21,995 in USD. Chrysler is importing the Alfa Romeo Giulietta to America to meet Federal gas mileage standards for 2015. It will be built as a Dodge at Chrysler's Belvidere, IL assembly plant, and go on sale in Nov. 2011. I plan on test driving one for sure. Great little hatchback from Alfa Romeo, said to be by UK car writers to be the best Alfa Romeo in their 100 year history of making Italian sports cars. I have decided that my next car will either be a Scion FR-S or a Dodge Giulietta. Dodge will rename the car something other than Giulietta but it is being written that they will leave the Giulietta body and underpinnings and mechanicals the same. This is going to be nothing short of a great sports car and I don't wanna wait for the next model year for it. I'll only need ta wait till Nov.'11 for it. Chrysler and Fiat are already making great music together, much like the best rock band in history, Foghat.

2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta