New Bora gets five stars in China's crash tests

Shanghai, December 26 (Gasgoo.com) China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) yesterday announced the crash test results of this year's fourth batch of seven models. The FAW-VW's New Bora is ranked five stars along with Chery A3, SAIC Roewe 550, Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz C200.

In the latest auto crash tests of "Chinese New Car Assessment Program" (C-NCAP, like Euro-NCAP), no car model got the top ranking of six stars. In addition to the four models of five stars, BYD F6 got four stars, and Jianghuai Binyue and New Zotye 2008 got three starts. A Hongqi car of FAW is said to have got the top ranking earlier this year.

The test crashes have been conducted in north Chinese city of Tianjin. CATARC official said that the C-NCAP operators this time bought the 21 units of the seven models directly from these brands' 4S stores or dealerships without the carmakers' knowledge. Three cars of each model then underwent three crash tests after the exhaust emission and fuel consumption testing. The test results were ranked by the C-NCAP standards.

The center tested 28 models in 2008, bringing the total number of tested domestic models to 65, which came from 90% of the domestic auto manufacturers. The proportion of five-star cars rose from 8.3% in 2006 (when the testing started) to 36% in 2007 and 46% in 2008.

Industry experts said that the five-star models are mostly the high-end vehicle products with better safety configurations and can represent all the products of the same series.