China’s Guangzhou Auto Show wraps up

Here are a couple more of the local offerings that will, fortunately or not, never make it to Australia.

With a starting price at just over AUD$8,000, Chinese buyers will get a decent size piece of metal for their money in the Chang’an Yuexiang hatch (pictured above).

Power comes from a 72kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder Mitsubishi unit teamed with five-speed manual transmission.

A smaller 1.3-litre engine and an automatic gearbox are on the way, as the Yuexiang aims to compete with other entry-level specialists like the BYD F3R and the Chevrolet Aveo.

And Great Wall knew that its new up-market small car needed a more respectable name than Cool Bear, Florid and Peri currently in the model range.

But they couldn’t come up with anything, so they stole Hyundai’s idea and called it the i7 instead.

Originally previewed at the 2006 Beijing Auto Show, the Cool Bear’s big brother is now production-ready and will start at AUD$11,250 with a 75kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder and a manual or CVT.

by Tim Beissmann