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You'll like this one. We're receiving reports that Chinese authorities have banned Renault from selling cars in China... because of ‘serious safety risks'.
Yes, that's the Laguna, Scenic and Megane - all of which gained five stars in Euro NCAP tests - have been judged too dangerous to go on sale in a country that produces the Brilliance BS6:
China's snappily named General Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ to its friends) doesn't appear to have specified exactly what the poor Renaults have done to fall foul of its doubtless stringent testing methods, but stated that Renaults 'have many times revealed quality problems'. GAQSIQ urged Renault to carry out a thorough check of its Chinese-market cars.
A Renault spokesman told the BBC that some problems had occurred during transport of storage of its cars to China, but not during manufacture.
Seems like there's a political angle to all this, though: the ban was announced just three days after honorary citizenship of Paris was granted to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, after China last month warned France not to make more ‘errors' in Tibet.
Renault sells less than 1,000 cars a year in China, so though the ban won't have much of a financial impact... well, it's a bit like being given a lecture on loyalty by Cristiano Ronaldo, isn't it?
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
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abrli commented on this article
at 01:12 pm on 12 June 2009
maybe starting next series clarkson&co shall get testing some of the chinese cars following the communists car test last series.
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jim79 commented on this article
at 02:09 pm on 12 June 2009
Renault "have many times revealed quality problems"? well done china you only just discovered this?
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Ferko commented on this article
at 02:18 pm on 12 June 2009
Bloody idiots!!!
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Mikeado commented on this article
at 02:32 pm on 12 June 2009
A laughable accusation - the safest cars on sale, the first company to consistently get 5-Star safety ratings (well, the first to advertise it at the very least) are considered too unsafe by a country producing cars that try to fold in half at 30mph? Puh-lease. They're safer than this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOFIt9iw1Fs&eurl].
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jak92 commented on this article
at 03:30 pm on 12 June 2009
wtf did they make the car out of in that crash test to turn into origami!
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