The Chinese maker of original masterpieces such as the Fiat Panda Haval M1, GWPeri, Toyota-Scion Florid and Coolbear, Great Wall Motors, has struck a deal with I.M. Group, a UK-based automotive importer and distributor for Subaru, Isuzu and Daihatsu, to import its vehicles into Europe starting from next year. The British company said that it will initially target the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and from 2011, the Scandinavian region, the UK and Ireland.
"Great Wall Motor Company, one of the few privately-owned Chinese car companies, has copied designed and built all of the European-bound models specifically to meet EU whole-vehicle type approval standards," I.M. Group said in a prepared statement for the press.
"This will ensure that Great Wall models deliver high standards of crash-worthiness, equal to those of modern European and Japanese vehicles."
The UK-based importer said that it will release further details about the launch of the Great Wall brand next year.
The Chinese automaker became known to the Western public a few years ago when it introduced a series of cars that shamelessly copied European and Japanese products including the Fiat Panda and Toyota - Scion cars.
Last year, the Fiat Group sued Great Wall Motors in Europe and China to prevent the company from selling the GWPeri claiming that the mini closely resembled it's Panda model. While the Fiat Group won the legal battle in Europe thus keeping the GWPeri out of the EU, a Chinese court in Hong Kong dismissed Fiat's claims for infringement.
You can get a taste of the numerous production and concept vehicles from Great Wall Motors in our gallery below.
8 Comments:
shit happens !
I hope nobody buys this copies of copies......
their efforts will likely hit a great wall...chinese cars have not been previously successful in Europe.
do chinese ppl think europeans are tasteless?
come on! we have dacia for lowbudget cars
no need for badly designed copies
I don't like Scion, but for fucks sake, I'd sooner an xB or xA than these knockoffs no matter how much the undercut a Scion on price.
Also, if they will underbut the competition with cheap copies, then it begs the question what else they are undercutting...like safety.
We have Great Wall here in Australia and to be honest they're cheap but not cheerful. They have two airbags, a less-than 100kW (138hp) engine across the range and they aren't terribly cheap either. We have two utes (pickups - the first one in the gallery and the old-gen Nissan Navara/Frontier knockoff) and the 5-seat SUV (the last car in the gallery).
They only sell their cars on value, nothing else. I can't see them doing anything close to well in Europe...
"They have two airbags, a less-than 100kW (138hp) engine across the range and they aren't terribly cheap either. We have two utes (pickups - the first one in the gallery and the old-gen Nissan Navara/Frontier knockoff) and the 5-seat SUV (the last car in the gallery)."
You might want to read this bit.
http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/74D4C1C28F2AAC0ACA25768E000636A6
If the airbag can't even deploy at the right momment, I won't even drive the thing anymore.
a moving coffins? GOOD LUCK!
Comments like the above were said in 73 when I bought a Mazda 1000 and in 83 when I bought a Hyundai Stellar so in 25 years time or less Great Wall may be a common sight on the worlds roads. Cannot see many Western cars holding together on roads like in Inner Mongolia(PRC)and plenty of GW motors there!
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