[CCF mod]

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.

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.

 

[Raul]

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

 

[CCF mod]

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/

 

[ash]

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

 

[Rally Red Lancer GTS]

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

 

[CCF mod]

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

 

[CCF mod]

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

 

[CCF mod]

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:

Coolcar:

 

[CCF mod]

MM Ideal:

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

 

[nubironaSW]

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

--
gilby

 

[dragin]

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.

 

[CCF mod]

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?

 

[dragin]

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.

 

[CCF mod]

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.

 

[nubironaSW]

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

 

[CCF mod]

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

 

[dragin]

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

 

[CCF mod]

Presentation of the Czech branch of Martin Motors:
http://news.auto.cz/cesky-trh/marti...fan-cesky-trh-ceny-technicka-data-vybavy.html

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

Ideal:

CEO:

Interior of 520:

 

[cuisine]

I was there today. It was very interesting.

 

[bluffer]

Lifan will enter to Europe through the Czech Republic

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