..."made in China", of course.
The car is the Brilliance BS6, a 6-cylinder Chinese luxury sedan currently sold in China, many European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries, and (soon) Australia and New Zealand. (I hear that the USA is next.) It's about the size of a Toyota Camry or Lexus ES350, and about the price of a Camry XLE V6, too. Car & Driver magazine tested one, and they found it lacking, with a horrible stereo, crummy interior plastics, power windows that didn't go down with one touch as promised, and a trunk that didn't open well.
Anyhoo, a European Union crash-test agency tested the BS6. It performed so poorly that it got the worst crash test rating possible: one star. If this went through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US, I could imagine that it wouldn't even get the worst "Poor" rating. Here's a video from a EU NCAP crash test (similar to the IIHS crash tests in the USA).
Given the poor quality and horrible crash test ratings, if this were available in the USA, I'd stay away from this death trap and buy that aforementioned Toyota Camry XLE V6 (made in Kentucky, BTW) for the same price. Or the new 2008 Honda Accord EX V6 (made in Ohio). Or the new (gasp!) Ford Taurus SEL (made in Chicago, Illinois). Heck, even a Hyundai Sonata Limited V6 (made in Alabama) would be a far better car for a lot less. Plus, not only would you support American jobs in the process, but you wouldn't have to put up with who-knows-what that's also lurking in this car (which is probably lead paint and such).
Anyone want to make bets that if/when this comes to the USA that Consumer Reports would rate this car "Not Acceptable"?
The car is the Brilliance BS6, a 6-cylinder Chinese luxury sedan currently sold in China, many European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries, and (soon) Australia and New Zealand. (I hear that the USA is next.) It's about the size of a Toyota Camry or Lexus ES350, and about the price of a Camry XLE V6, too. Car & Driver magazine tested one, and they found it lacking, with a horrible stereo, crummy interior plastics, power windows that didn't go down with one touch as promised, and a trunk that didn't open well.
Anyhoo, a European Union crash-test agency tested the BS6. It performed so poorly that it got the worst crash test rating possible: one star. If this went through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US, I could imagine that it wouldn't even get the worst "Poor" rating. Here's a video from a EU NCAP crash test (similar to the IIHS crash tests in the USA).
Given the poor quality and horrible crash test ratings, if this were available in the USA, I'd stay away from this death trap and buy that aforementioned Toyota Camry XLE V6 (made in Kentucky, BTW) for the same price. Or the new 2008 Honda Accord EX V6 (made in Ohio). Or the new (gasp!) Ford Taurus SEL (made in Chicago, Illinois). Heck, even a Hyundai Sonata Limited V6 (made in Alabama) would be a far better car for a lot less. Plus, not only would you support American jobs in the process, but you wouldn't have to put up with who-knows-what that's also lurking in this car (which is probably lead paint and such).
Anyone want to make bets that if/when this comes to the USA that Consumer Reports would rate this car "Not Acceptable"?
