Dongfeng releases own-brand Fengshen sedan

Shanghai, March 26 (Gasgoo.com) Dongfeng Motor rolled out its own-brand Fengshen sedan model today and will display this mid-sized car at the upcoming 2009 Shanghai auto show in late April, state media said today.

The Fengshen model is built on a modified version of Dongfeng partner Citroen's long-gone ZX platform and is powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine with an output of 105-horsepower. The 4,5-meter-long Fengshen car was designed by DongFeng's own technology center with the help of Italdesign.

The compact Fengshen (Aeolus), which revives a name previously used by Dongfeng on a local version of the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, will be formally unveiled next month at the 2009 Shanghai auto show as a self-developed sedan model of Dongfeng.

When it goes on sale in China in May, the Dongfeng Fengshen will compete against a whole army of locally produced small sedans such as GM's Buick Excelle, Hyundai's Elantra and VW's Jetta in the Chinese market.

Dongfeng, which operates local joint ventures with PSA, Honda and Nissan, spent 100 million yuan ($14.7 mln) in developing own-brand passenger cars. Additional models, including a coupe and a hatchback, will also come out soon under the Dongfeng brand.