The Auto Writer

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) or Detroit Auto Show has announced that two automotive manufacturers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will display their cars at the 2009 show which will be held this January. Brilliance Auto and BYD will be bringing several models to Detroit, though neither company has announced which ones will be present.

For BYD (affectionately named Build Your Death by members of the media), this will be a return appearance, having been at last year’s show. For Brilliance Auto, this will be their first visit to any car show in North America.

Brilliance is a partner company to BMW and plans to begin selling its first cars in the United States later in 2009.  The automaker gained notoriety in 2008 when its BS6 (nice name, eh?) miserably failed a European car crash test, earning a one-star rating. Later in the year, the automaker redid the test, but still only managed three-stars. The company says that by the end of 2008 their American bound vehicles will meet stringent safety requirements, supposedly these same vehicles will be on display in Detroit.

To date, no Chinese manufacturer has sold a single model in the U.S. Back in 2005, Chery Automotive was planning to enter the U.S. market, even partnering with a U.S. distributor who planned to bring several models stateside. That plan never worked out.

Geely Automobile Holdings Limited has also considered selling cars in North America, but the automaker has yet to move in that direction. Changfeng Motors was the first automaker from the PRC to display its cars in Detroit, having made the trip there in 2007.

Chinese cars have a distinct price advantage thanks to very low wages and minimal design effort. Take a look at most any Chinese vehicle and you’ll notice a similar pattern across most model lines — designs were ripped off from other manufacturers, though PRC courts have upheld these copyright violations.

BTW, BYD actually means Build Your Dreams — we’ll let you decide if the media’s depiction was a fair one or not!