Chinese car maker Geely, whose only claim to fame is the recent buy out of the Volvo brand from Ford is planning to grab headlines as the maker of the world’s cheapest car by launching a small hatchback based on the IG Concept which was shown at the Beijing Auto Show.
The car is expected to cost between £1500 and £2000 undercutting the Tata Nano which retails for an equivalent of £2500.
Christened the Intelligent Geely (IG), which by the way sounds very similar to Toyota iQ the super intelligent city car which is currently sold in Europe (copycats?), the car is 3165 mm long and claims to be a 2+2 with a very limited rear seating space and will not come until 2012.
The concept shown at the Beijing Auto Show had expensive gullwing door which are expected to be ditched for a more conventional but cheaper design.
source: autocar.co.uk
The Chinese version of the IG will be powered by a 998cc petrol engine developing 70 bhp of maximum power which will be mated to a five speed CVT transmission. An electric version of the car with an 80 bhp electric motor and a lithium-ion battery pack will come in later around 2014 or 2015 which would even be sold in Europe and the US. The concept at the auto show also had solar panels on the roof, bonnet and dash to help increase its range.
The car maker is also claiming that IG will be better quality than the Tata Nano, although we doubt this highly keeping in mind the previous efforts from Chinese car makers and the EURO NCAP crash test results.
Geely IG will be built at company’s Linhai plant.
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