China’s invasion of the European car market – or any other market of importance, for that matter, as some had predicted, never materialized, and from the looks of how things are going, it will take a lot of time and serious efforts from the country’s local manufacturers to do so in a convincing way.
Nonetheless, Chinese carmakers are striving to remain relevant and tell the rest of the world that they exist by taking part in international auto shows like the one in Frankfurt these days. Changan, which rented a booth opposite of Mitsubishi at the Frankfurt Messe, displayed a handful of models, including the Eado XT compact hatch, Eado Hybrid sedan, the S95 SUV Concept, and the Z5 crossover.
In the rare case you’re wondering about the man sitting on the side sill of the study in one of the pictures, his name is Andreas Zapatinas and he is the Advanced Design Department Manager of Changan’s freshly opened European Designing Center in Turin, Italy. The Greek-born designer has contributed to a number of vehicle designs, including the Fiat Barchetta, Alfa Romeo 145 and 147, and has also worked at Subaru as the Head of Advanced Design from 2002 through 2006.
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