Geely GE no longer a high Roller
Chinese carmaker set to unveil its revised GE limo, which is no longer a blatant Rolls-Royce knock-offFew cars in recent years have been met with as much mirth and derision as the Rolls-Royce-aping Geely GE that debuted at last year's Shanghai motor show.
Well, it seems the folks at Geely took the criticism to heart, because they've now remodelled the car's exterior, and the finished product (known as the Emgrand GE) will be rolled out at next week's Bejing motor show.
Of course, part of the motivation to redesign the car may have been provided by the threat of legal action by Rolls-Royce execs, who were less than amused when they clapped their eyes on the GE.
Although few in their right mind would have actually mistaken the Geely for a Roller, it was still a fairly blatant case of intellectual property theft, and it could potentially have eroded RR's lofty brand values.
Anyway, the updated GE is less Roller-like, but the new nose is still on the nose. Fronting the car is a huge toothy grille that reminds one of a plankton-eating whale, and it's flanked by a pair of tapered headlights that don't really appear to belong on the car.
The derriere has also been reworked, and there's now more than a hint of Mercedes S-Class about it. All in all, it looks contrived, and plain ugly.
The interior hasn't escaped the makeover wand, and replacing the single throne of the Geely GE is a pair of sculpted seats separated by a central armrest. Can't argue with that change, at least.
Propulsion for the 5.4m long Emgrand comes from a 3.5-litre V6, but there's not too much other technical info at this stage.
Geely will reportedly display 59 cars at the Bejing show -- across its Emgrand, Global Eagle and Englon brands.
Meanwhile, Geely has announced it will invest $US900m in Volvo as it seeks to reinvigorate its newly acquired Swedish brand.
According to a Bloomberg report, Geely founder Li Shufu was quoted as saying the company will draw up a series of "development plans" to revive Volvo. Shufu went on to say Geely had raised about $US2.7 billion to fund the Volvo purchase and operations.
"The deal won't work if Volvo continues to rely on blood transfusions. We will help it recover the ability to generate blood," he added.
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