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The 7151CK saloon may not have the catchiest name of all the cars launched in Detroit this week, but it's a very important newcomer: it's going to be one of the first cut-price cars from China on sale in the US.
Manufacturer Geely, one of the few fully privately-owned Chinese car makers, intends to sell 25,000 cars in the US in 2008, all priced from under $10,000 - and to sell 100,000 cars a year to the Americans within five years.
Outlining the company's plans, CEO Li Shufu said that Geely would start exports to Puerto Rico first from summer 2007, before bringing cars into the US and Canada. The cars for North America will be developed from the current 7151 CK - which doesn't meet US safety or emissions standards - and while they won't be lavishly-equipped with state-of-the-art technology, they will be designed to give trouble-free running for 10 years. The 7151 CK is built on underpinnings designed by a Korean manufacturer, and fitted with a Toyota-designed engine.
Geely plans to build two million cars a year by 2015, two-thirds for export. The company has been building cars since 1986, and exported 5,000 cars in 2004 to the Middle East and eastern Europe, making it China's largest exporter so far.
"Geely", apparently, means "I am lucky" in Chinese. (Detroit News).
