The Chinese "Landwind ", the first car entering European market three months ago, proved itself as a safe car after passing a recent crash test in Germany.
"The result of this crash test is very encouraging," Peter Bijvelds, the Dutch importer of this Chinese sport utility vehicle, told a press conference on Thursday in the Hague, the Netherlands.
"The crash test measurements for both driver and passenger confirm that this vehicle is fully compliant with current EU regulations," said Bijvelds.
The positive results of the crash test, organized by German inspection agency TUV in Frankfurt, was in total contradictory with another crash test by another German car club ADAC in middle September.
The ADAC said its crash test indicated that the driver would not survive a head-on collision at speeds of 64 kilometers per hour or more.
The front of the SUV would crumple and crush the driver, the unofficial organization said.
Bijvelds, however, question the validity of the crash test and even doubted that the ADAC were manipulated by the powerful German automotive industry which perhaps found a way to keep the Chinese competitor from entering the market.
Bijvelds said that it was "a great coincidence" that the results of the ADAC crash tests were published on the eve of the Frankfurt car show, where the economically priced Chinese SUV was to be officially unveiled.
He also called it strange that the manufacturer was not informed of the test results, as is usually the case to help manufacturers learn and improve their vehicles.
"We as the official importer had not been informed before and we were not invited to be present when the tests were performed. Upon our request for further information, there was only silence," he said.
In response to the ADAC's warning, Landwind's maker, China's Jiangling Group, asked the German agency TUV to test the vehicle for compliance to European safety standards.
"We have been hit hard (by ADAC test), and we think that not all has been fair," Jiangling and its importer Bijvelds said in a statement.
"We will meet any safety or emission standard that is required to sell our cars in the European Union markets. The customer will prove us right," it added.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2005)
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