FAW recently released the Besturn B50 (we think the Chinese name Ben Teng is better) and what can we say? Its a B segment motor that offers good looks, possibly making it better looking than the previous Besturn motor.
Under the hood there is going to be a 1.6 motor, and also a hybrid drive for one model. This would be FAW’s first step into the hybrid arena, although if you count the fact that they made the Toyota Prius in China via their Toyota JV, the B50 may well be their second hybrid.
The chassis of the B50 is reportedly the Mazda 6.
Kinda silly question but…I’ve been hearing Segment B/A more often lately. - Im assuming this term refers to the market the auto is intended for? - Segment A would be luxury cars & Segment B would be your “middle income” cars? Are there any more segments, ie C?
Thanks,
Bob
There is often quite a lot of confusion about segments. Previously it was usually A B C at least in Europe where A’s were supermini’s, B small cars, and C family cars.
However these days I’d say A is more cars like the Aygo/107, B things like Fiesta/207, C things like Focus/Astra/308, D things like Mondeo/Accord.
they screwed in the grilled
Surprisingly inoffensive.
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I’m particularly impressed by the interior quality though. I love that the black/grey wood trim inside, I haven’t seen that particular look since the W208 CLK, and the plastics seem fairly “soft” unlike typical Chinese cars. Hopefully, it translates well into production models!
Each to his own. It looks pretty cheap and nasty to me.
Haha - I’ll second you on that one. Comparatively speaking however, its a notch up from the standard (at least from what I’ve seen).
There are all these claims about X Chinese car is knocking of X design for the exterior, but I’ve yet to hear much about this applying to the interiors - maybe this should be the next progression
Not to say, Chinese car manufactures shouldn’t be innovating some cool new (to some maybe tacky) designs (ie the interior to the Chery A2 sport - even though it does look like an Xbox 360) - but if they are going to try to go for an interior/dash look of a standard car on the road, maybe the use of a more detailed eye while observing of others should be used 
Hah, yeah, it’s cheap and nasty, but better than the even cheaper and uglier Brilliance interiors! But hey, I guess they gotta take it one step at a time: first the outside, then the inside…
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IMO, very few car manufacturers can make an interior that looks decent. Japanese manufacturers typically make their dashboards far too flashy and gaudy (like it stepped out of Gundam) and Americans typically make something like a Fisher Price toy. Europeans seem to manage OK with their fairly subdued but respectable interiors. Maybe Chinese manufacturers should hire VW to do some consulting on automotive interior design!
Slightly off topic, but I must add, I had one of the New Beetles in ‘99 when it first launched, and had the luck of driving a rental Civic the same year. VW interiors were light years ahead of Honda in terms of fit, aethestics, finish and usability. I haven’t had a VW since, but I’ve always been impressed by their interiors.