A pretty Brilliance Coupe sporty car, seen in Beijing back in 2015. The Coupe looked great in Ferrari red, and even better with the after-market WRC stickers. The multi-spoke alloys are factory original. The license plate is from Qinghai Province, some 1600 kilometers by road from the capital.
That is a long ride, especially in a coupe without too much space or four-wheel drive. But it makes up all that with its cool-factor, which is as high as the mountains it needs to cross.
The Brilliance Coupe was also know as: Brilliance GT, Brilliance M3, and Brilliance Kouper. In China it was known as the Brilliance Kubao (酷宝). The Coupe was designed by Pininfarina and made from 2007 until 2011.
Pininfarina did a lot of work for Brilliance in the 2000’s and the Coupe was probably his best design for the company. It is pretty from every side and doesn’t look outdated even today. The Coupe was available with a 138 hp 1.8 and with a 170 hp 1.8 turbo. Price in China started at 128.900 yuan.
The Brilliance Coupe is often compared to the Geely Meirenbao but that was really a smaller and cheaper car, and not a direct competitor.