Move aside Renault there’s a new kid in town

The Chinese are coming! Well they’re dipping their toes in the car retailing water anyway.

With most large car makers and dealer groups looking to exploit the economic spurt happening over in China it’s somewhat ironic that jauntily named Chinese car maker Geely will be coming to a showroom near you come the end of the year.

Its ambitious plans include taking on up to 100 brand partners by 2013 and the launch car will be from its strangely titled “Emgrand” brand called enigmatically the EC7 which will go on sale for around £10k.

The Emgrand EC7 (not to be confused with the “Englong” or the “Gleagle” – no I am not making this up) is a large family saloon car and will be entering a very competitive market so the price will be everything for this young upstart.

It will be interesting to see the progress of the Chinese manufacturer and the brand on these shores and whether realistically there will be many takers willing to invest in a completely unproven manufacturer during these seemingly never ending times of economic strife.

However one thing’s for sure, as the likes of Saab go under and Renault lose dealers left right and centre, the void was perhaps always likely to be filled by a new kid on the block.

Nevertheless I don’t think the big boys will be shaking in their boots quite yet, but some of the smaller ones might start getting a bit twitchy!