BYD, Brilliance cars highlight Detroit auto show

Shanghai, January 12 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese automakers BYD Auto Co. and Brilliance Jinbei Automotive Co. will be displaying their cars at this week's Detroit auto show starting Monday. Amid the financial crisis, this will be a good opportunity for low-price and quality Chinese-made cars to enter the North American market, said sohu.com. Brilliance Auto may start to sell its vehicles in the United States in June.

For the first time, the Chinese auto makers will have main floor exhibit space at Cobo Center for the 2009 Detroit auto show. The BYD and Brilliance will occupy about 11,000 square feet on the main floor. The space was reserved for Mitsubishi Motors Corp. but became available after that company pulled out of the show.

The two Chinese automakers will display their hybrid vehicles in booths next to global brands such as GM Chevrolet, Buick, Ford, Subaru, Kia, Mazda and Volvo. Chinese automakers have had a presence in Detroit for years but were always in Michigan Hall -- the lower level of Cobo Center, or the lobby.

BYD (short for "Build Your Dreams") will be displaying its new-energy cars at the U.S. auto show. Besides its recently released first Chinese-made plug-in hybrid electric car F3DM (F3 Dual Mode), BYD will also showcase its hybrid F3DM, all-electric E6, CVT and F0 models.

The overseas distributors of Brilliance Auto will display four Brilliance car models at the Detroit show this time. The four Brilliance models are Brilliance BS6 (Zunchi), Zhonghua Junjie, Brilliance Coupe and Junjie FRV.

Besides Mitsubishi, several other automakers have pulled out of the 2009 Detroit show, citing financial crisis. Nissan, the biggest automaker to skip out of the show, followed the exits of Suzuki, Land Rover, Rolls-Royce and Ferrari.

This presents a good opportunity for Chinese automakers to show their products to the North American market. Brilliance may start selling its cars in California, U.S. in June this year.