Founded in 1992, Brilliance is rather prestigious firm in its Chinese homeland, boasting an agreement with BMW to assemble cars for the local market.

By 2007, Brilliance Jinbei Automotive is best known to Europeans for two things: aping BMW's kidney grille, and failing crash tests conducted by 11 national auto clubs, including Germany's ADAC, in spectacular fashion.

In response, Brilliance redesigns 65 parts on the car in question - the BS6 - to improve its safety. Spanish independent tester IDIADA crashes BS6 prototypes to EuroNCAP standards, and gives them a three-star rating.

To Brilliance's credit, the company tends to be somewhat more original than compatriot BYD.