Martin Motors, Italian company which is responsible for importing Lifan brand to Europe, shows several models at the Autoshow Praha 2009. The company has signed an agreement with local LUM-ORIS and will start sale of Lifan brand in Czech Republic in the next few days. Shuanghuan CEO and two commercial vehicles produced by Changhe - Freedom i Coolcar - will probably join the offer in near future. At the Autoshow Praha 2009 visitors can also see Dongfeng brand represented by GAZ Auto Praha.

The Italian company wants to sell 520 model, which is now offered in two body versions, as 4-d sedan (4,370 mm long) and 5-d hatchback, signed as 520i (4,040 mm long). Cars will be offered with a modern 1.6 Tritec engine (116 bhp, 149 Nm), which let the car achieve 185 km/h of maximum speed, with acceleration to 100 km/h in 10.5 s. Clients will choose 1.3 engine (88 bgp, 115 Nm) too. The car's asset will be the possibility to order version with LPG, and CNG in future as well. Similar as it is in most of Chinese cars, the car has rich standard comfort equipment, such as full electricity, air conditioning or DVD player, but really poor safety one – only ABS with EBD and 2 airbags.

The car passed the crash test in Russia, which considered European official certification procedures ECE-R 94. The Chinese sedan appeared enough safe for front seats passengers after 40% offset. Airbags worked well and protected dummies' damages. Passengers' compartment kept its shape, and experts did not observed any leaks in fuel system. Crash tests with ECE-R 94 standard are conducted with 56 km/h speed, which is 8 km/h less according to trials conducted by European association ADAC and EuroNCAP.

Lifan 520 met "E mark" requirements in 2007, which means, that it can be legally sold in the EU countries. Chongqing Lifan Group accents, that all car's components, such as lights, tires, windows, horn or seats fulfill requirements of European official certification.

Source: http://www.autochiny.pl/en/Lifan_will_enter_to_Europe_through_the_Czech_Republic

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