Brilliance and BYD to reveal new coupes and hybrids at Geneva

We previously reported on Brilliance Automotive's slightly stylish Hyundai Coupe competitor, the BC3 Coupe being sold in China for around $15,000. When the car was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2007, it garnered plenty of attention and left a lot of questions about whether it would come to the European Market. Brilliance has revealed that it will be unveiling the production version of the BC3 Coupe for Europe, as well as the redesigned and safer BS6. The BS4 will also make an appearance but it is expected that the BC3 will be the star of the Brilliance stand.

Automotive News Europe reports that while this is the BC3's European debut, the BS6 has been brought to the European market before. During its tenure in Europe, the BS6 sold quite poorly due to its dismal crash-test results from no less than 11 national auto clubs. To combat this issue Brilliance has redesigned a significant proportion of the BS6 to make it safer, and an independent test of some prototypes revealed that it would likely get a three-star rating from EuroNCAP.

Production of this new BS6, as well as the BS4, will begin in the next few months at Brilliance's factory and it is uncertain whether the redesigned parts will add to the cost of the car although logically this would be the case.

China's BYD will also be showing cars at Geneva, including a gas-electric hybrid and a plug-in electric car. They will also be displaying three production vehicles including the F1 minicar (don't expect its performance to be F1-like, though) and the F3R hatch which started sales in China in July 2007. The F1 starts sales in two months in China and although no specific date has been set for any European release, BYD expects to enter the Western European market within around 12 months. There will also be a BYD F6 which is a large-segment car and starts sales in China around the same time as the F1.

Ultimately, both manufacturers entering the market can only mean more competitive products coming from the larger manufacturers. However, until brand recognition and build quality is improved it remains unlikely that Brilliance or BYD will disturb the major manufacturers.