Brilliance in 2010

"It took Japan 40 years to become a great automotive nation. It took South Korea 20 years. I think it will take China as little as 10 to 15 years."

Giorgetto Giugiaro

I am trying to get comments on Brilliance as far as I can. The car design is too attractive but what about quality and spares?

I found a good review by a Detroit Auto Show visitor launched on January 19, 2009.

"I saw the BYD hybrids and Brilliance cars at the Detroit auto show on Saturday, and looked under the hood of the Brilliance M1 (about the size of a Kia Optima), and the M1 had a Brilliance mfd. 1.8 turbo four and automatic tranny, 167hp (about what is needed for the US), and Euro IV emissions. After a catastrophic (as in BAD) epic failure in a crash test in Germany last year which resulted in viral video on the www, within weeks, Brilliance had shown a willingness to improve and improve quickly by going back to the drawing board with help from the West, altered their M1 car and re-tested for 3 stars.

I think the cars would be saleable in the US right now, but suspect that the political aspects of bringing a Chinese car to the US at this time might prevent them from pulling the trigger.

I also noted that the interior quality of the M1, which had leather, was only so-so in some areas. The leather was fine, but the hard plastics were literally no better than Chrysler (sub-par). But then again, this is from a relatively new car manufacturer in a 2nd world nation compared to a car manufacturer considered one of the Detroit 3… so who does that reflect worse on? Chrysler or Brilliance? I say, Chrysler. And I’d be willing to bet that Brilliance improves their plastics before selling cars in the states.

I noted also that both BYD and Brilliance seemed to be making plans for the distant future which include FACTORIES IN THE US, unlike the Detroit 2.8 which have been exporting jobs for decades.

I’m not pro-Chinese (in fact, I nearly constantly grumble about the poor quality of their goods from clothing, to toasters, to water faucets, to hot water kettles….) but indeed, I did hear some Detroit (presumably auto industry) natives saying “um, these guys are about where Hyundai were a few years ago, already. We’re in trouble. They’re learning really fast.” (This was at the Brilliance stand). I think the guy was impressed by the steel work (as I also was). Also, Brilliance has a big advantage over BYD in that Brilliance seems to be about where Nissan (Datsun) was in the mid-1960′s – hiring Italian expertise to style and design cars.

BYD’s cars were unashamedly rip-offs of other designs (Toyota for the two smaller cars, Honda for the F6 sedan). Unlicensed intellectual theft.

BYD’s advantages include their batteries and hybrid systems, self-engineered (they are, after all, something like the 2nd or 4th largest cell phone battery company in the world)."