START.(NEWS)

CHINA COOKS UP A ROLLS-ROYCE CLONE What was the most talked-about car at the Shanghai motor show? That would be the Geely Shanghai Englon GE, a poor copy of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. If Geelys ghastly interpretations of the classic Rolls-Royce grille and traditional Spirit of Ecstasy arent enough to make the company get on the phone to its intellectual-property lawyers, overall proportions of the Shanghai Englon GE (for Geely Excellence) compared with the handsome Phantom will. Not only is it undersized and amateurish in design and execution, but the Geely also supplants the Phantoms mighty 6.7-liter V12 engine with a weak-kneed 3.5-liter V6.

CHERY QQME (above)

Competing for the title of quirkiest production car in Shanghai was the oddly named and bizarrely styled Chery QQme. China's answer to the Fiat 500 arrives in Chinese showrooms around midyear. Power comes from Chery's 1.3-liter four-cylinder driving the front wheels.

BUICK PATAC (RIGHT)

General Motors' Buick division unveiled its six-seat PATAC concept. Pitched as an upmarket MPV for the roaming executive, the tall one-box creation provides clues to an all-new Chinese-market Buick model slated for production by 2011 as a replacement for the GL8an archaic-looking minivan based on the discontinued U.S.-market Buick Terraza. The PATAC is named for GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, where it was designed and constructed. Power-ing the new front-wheel-drive Buick is a mildhybrid version of the GL8's 2.4-liter, 152-hp V6 mated to a six-speed automatic.

- BERTONE MANTIDE (above) > Financially embattled Italian design house Bertone added some European intrigue to the Shanghai motor show with its striking Mantide concept. The carbon-fiber supercar, which appears to be inspired by Lockheed's F-117 stealth fighter, is built on a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Bertone says intensive wind-tunnel work cuts drag by 25 percent to a coefficient of 0.29. Bertone says it might build a small run of cars, depending on demand.

GREAT WALL CHC 011 (above) > Arguably Great Wall's most ambitious car to date, the upmarket CHC 011 sedan is described as a concept but is said to be a close preview of an upcoming flagship model from Great Wall that is due out in 2011. It features luxury-car dimensions and design cues from the Ford Mondeo, the Jaguar XF and the Mercedes-Benz CLS.