Brilliance mulls adding SUV model to its lineup

Shanghai, June 4 (Gasgoo.com) BMW's Chinese partner Brilliance Auto is mulling developing a SUV model in one and a half year to complete its lineup, chairman said recently.

"Now that we have introduced new sedan, FRV and Wagon models, a SUV model become a necessity for our product lineup", Liu Zhigang, president of Brilliance, told the press at the launching ceremony for Junjie FRV, which has already debuted at the 2008 Beijing auto show in April.

Asked which market segment the new model will slot in, Liu only said Brilliance's SUV will be positioned higher than Chery's Tiggo, which is selling for 86,800 yuan ($12.534) in the Chinese market for the time being.

Last year the number of SUVs sold in China rose 58 percent to 375,300 units and Chery alone sold 50,098 Tiggo, representing an increase of 77%.