Brilliance Zhonghua / BS6 (M1) History

The Zhonghua sedan (later marketed abroad as the Brilliance BS6 or M1) debuted in December 2000, making it one of the first Chinese cars to have been designed by a prominent Western studio — Italdesign Giugiaro. It was a genuine executive attempt: a full-size D-segment saloon with styling that read as credible by early-2000s standards, sold under the Zhonghua Zunchi name in China.

Brilliance attempted a European beach-head beginning in 2007, pricing the BS6 at approximately €18,000 in Germany — comparable to a Ford Mondeo or Volkswagen Passat. The effort collapsed almost immediately after Euro NCAP published its 2006 results: the BS6 achieved only one star out of five, with testers describing the crash performance as 'catastrophic.' A second star was withheld after excessive biometric limits were recorded during side-impact testing. European importer HSO Motors went bankrupt in November 2009; combined EU sales of the BS4 and BS6 from 2007 to 2009 totalled just 502 units. Domestic Chinese production ended in 2010.