Qoros to debut at Geneva

8 Nov, 2012 4:09pm Luke Madden

Qoros will debut three cars at the Geneva Motor Show, including a saloon for the European market

Chinese manufacturer Qoros will be debuting three models at the Geneva Motor Show, with the first of the new cars going on sale in China and Europe at the end of 2013.

Qoros will be unveiling a saloon, a crossover and an SUV at the show, but the first to arrive will be the saloon. Each car will be based on a modular chassis allowing the model range to expand to include hybrid and electric vehicles. Qoros says new variants could be launched almost every six months.

The saloon model has been designed by Qoros’s Executive Director of Design Gert Hildebrand, who is best known for designing the BMW MINI. Qoros claims it will "showcase a design language inspired by modern European tastes."

To allay any fears about build quality and safety, Qoros has said that all of its models will be engineered to "receive maximum ratings in Euro NCAP safety tests."

The cars will be built at a factory in China, with an initial production capacity of 150,000. The firm claims that production could be boosted to 450,000 units a year.

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Submitted by sirwiggum on Thu, 2012-11-08 16:57.

Front looks like a previous gen Focus.

Meanwhile, from the side profiles of the saloon and SUVs,you can tell the designer was from BMW with the hoffmeister kink, even of the overall shapes are derivative of Skoda (Superb) and Audi (Q-something) products.

Will European engines, such as diesels and small petrols, be available?

Submitted by Susan Carter on Sun, 2012-11-11 09:08.

I can't find anything related as to how ' green ' these cars will be and surely with the planned ' Cars 2020' this is essential. I note also that Russia will be introducing a low cost Lada Granta into the European market. However another country that we tend to overlook is Hungary. With Suzuki, Opel and Audi already there I note with interest that The Schaeffler Group are currently expanding their factory in Szombathely. It will supply parts predominately for the Hungarian car market, but the combination of German know-how and low Hungarian labour costs - it may be only a matter of time before they come up with something also.