BMW and Chinese company Brilliance are expected to launch a new model this year built at the Shenyang plant in China where BMW is already producing the X1 and 3 Series Sedan. In an interview with Autonews, Ian Robertson, BMW global sales boss, said that BMW hadn’t decided which markets outside China the new brand would be sold in, but mature markets such as Europe hadn’t been ruled out.
The name of the joint venture will be unveiled this month at Shanghai Auto Show but Chinese media is already speculating on the Zhi Nuo brand name, which translate into “The Promise”.
Robertson declined to confirm this, but said one challenge BMW and Brilliance faced was choosing the name. “Today that is more difficult than it was even two years ago,” he said “There are some very smart people who copyright trade names, patents, any name you can possible think of, even names you think you own.”
According to China Car Times, the first car to come out of this venture is a new MPV model that could compete with the Mercedes-Benz B-Class. Under the hood, the compact car will use BMW’s four-cylinder 2.0 liter N20 turbocharged engine.
This will be the second model ever produced by the two companies. Ahead of the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show, BMW unveiled the BMW-Brilliance 5 Series Electric.
