Thursday, April 23, 2009

Geely EMGRAND EC718


Recent brand reshuffling from Geely has yielded three sub-brands: GLEAGLE (fashion, dream and passion), EMGRAND (luxury and power) and Shanghai EngLon (classic British-style design). The EMGRAND brand has released the first official photos of its EC718 production vehicle, set to be unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2009.

The EC718 is a C-segment-sized vehicle which will be offered in both sedan and hatch derivatives, and source power from 1.8-liter D-CVVT diesel and 2.0-liter gasoline engines. It is set to compete against the Chery A3, Lifan 620 and other domestic vehicles in the fast-growing and ultra-competitive domestic C segment, which sits a notch below the import C segment because of its lower price band.

As with many of the cars being released at Auto Shanghai 2009, official press material from Geely contains scarce information about the new car. But as one of only handful of production cars at the show, it should provide a realistic barometer of how far the Chinese cars have come in terms of design and technology.