Brilliance – China’s eighth largest automaker by sales – has announced it will soon begin shipping a version of its BS4 station wagon to Europe. The wagon’s launch – should it pass European regulations — will be Brilliance’s third in the European market, following the BS6 and BS4 sedans.
Brilliance failed to reveal how many units of the BS4 wagon it plans to ship to Europe, but the automaker expects to pass all European regulations by the end of the year. “We are going through regulatory procedures currently in Europe trying to get our BS4 wagon into the market,” a Brilliance executive told Automotive News.
No pricing information has been released on the BS4 station wagon, but it will likely list from about $25,000 in Europe. The BS4 wagon first hit the Chinese market in 2008, featuring 1.8L and 2.0L engines. In China, the BS4 wagon list for between $15,000 and about $21,000.
Safety concerns
Even if the BS4 wagon passes European regulations – the Chinese automaker expects the wagon to receive three out of five stars from EuroNCAP – Brilliance will likely struggle to find buyers in the European market. Brilliance currently sells two models in Europe – the BS6 and BS4 sedans – but has only managed 4,000 sales since 2007, largely due to poor crash test results.
Brilliance has yet to set a European sales goal but hopes to sell between 500,000 and 800,000 vehicles per year by 2014. Brilliance tallied 285,000 sales last year.
