Frankfurt Auto Show: The New Chairman; Ssangyong WZ

The Chairman is dead, long live the Chairman. Scratch that, it's the WZ concept, the latest from Ssangyong, Korean by way of the Chinese-mainland. The Mercedes-powered sedan is the replacement for the company's Chairman executive saloon, and it shares a general shape with several Infiniti models and at least one future Hyundai. No word yet on what the new Chairman will be called, but we suspect Wz is at least one vowel short of a nameplate.

4:09 PM on Mon Sep 17 2007
By Mike Spinelli
1,497 views
9 comments

Comments

EmilGH at 05:04 PM on 09/17/07
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Any car named the "New Chairman" kicks ass in my book!
TinaChow at 05:22 PM on 09/17/07
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Korean cars are no longer embarassing to be seen in. That mantle has now been passed to the Chinese.
M0L0TOV at 05:40 PM on 09/17/07
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Hmm, licensed Mercedes tech/chassis with Maximaesque sheetmetal? Daddy wants. Sign me up and give me the diesel version please!
sos10 at 05:56 PM on 09/17/07
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@TinaChow: and that mantle is made in USA?
ranwhenparked at 08:53 PM on 09/17/07
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Is this still on the W124 platform, or is it using something newer?
Maymar - now with 37%... at 09:44 PM on 09/17/07
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@ranwhenparked: I hope not, for Ssangyong's sake.

Still, this is actually pretty cool looking, barely looks like the designers arbitrarily picked a competing vehicle as a, for lack of a nicer way to put it, "benchmark."
bmoredlj at 09:48 PM on 09/17/07
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Personally, I see a lot of Camry with a Saturn grille, but it's a damn fine looking sedan. The 1:18 scale side mirrors have to go; too goofy.
smokyburnout at 10:32 PM on 09/17/07
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@bmoredlj: either they're rear-facing camera pods and not actual mirrors, or we've greatly underestimated just how large this car is. if the latter is true, then i welcome our new value-minded, giant-car-piloting overlords...
rainmaker80s at 01:49 PM on 09/18/07
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Uh... can anybody say Infiniti M35/45?

I don't understand- don't the Chinese hire Italian designers and such to come up with these derivative (if not bad looking) concepts?

Let's see: they build replicas of X5s and Smart ForTwos, or little Chevy (Daewoo?) Aveos.

If you're going to make a mark in the industry, stop copying tired, last-gen designs.

For the record, I think this current Chinese concept happens to be beautiful. It's just not original.