BOLOGNA, Italy -- Lifan and Changhe, two small, privately owned Chinese carmakers, will rely on Italy's Martin Motors for their first Europewide car launches.

 

Martin Motors has the rights to sell Lifan and Changhe models in western, central and eastern Europe. The vehicles will be rebadged with the Martin Motors logo, said Martin Motors spokeswoman Viviana Martinelli.

 

The privately owned distributor, based near Milan, plans to sell a combined 10,000 Lifan and Changhe units in Europe this year. They will go on sale in Romania this month, and in Italy in spring, provided the vehicles pass homologation tests.

 

Sales of the Changhe and Lifan vehicles are planned in other western European markets for the second half on next year, beginning with Germany, Austria and France, Martinelli said.

 

Unveiled at the motor show here in December, the Lifan-built MM 520i is a five-door, 4040mm-long hatchback with a starting price of 11,820 euros (106,574 yuan). The four-door 520 sedan is 4370mm-long and will start at 12,840 euros (115,771 yuan).

 

Both vehicles are powered with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine produced in Brazil by Tritec Motors, an engine company sold last summer to Fiat Powertrain Technologies by Chrysler.

 

Chongqing Lifan Industry Group is China's largest privately owned motorcycle manufacturer. Lifan launched its first car in April 2005.

 

Also at the Bologna show, Martin Motors unveiled the Ideal small car, built by Jiangxi Changhe Automobile Co.

 

Changhe is based in Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province.

 

The Ideal is a 3600mm-long five-door hatchback. In Italy, pricing starts at 8,200 euros (74,562 yuan) for the 1.0-liter gasoline version. Changhe has some strong allies.

 

The Ideal was designed by Italy's Stile Bertone, and the small automaker's partner in China is Suzuki Motor.

 

For the Lifan and Changhe models to comply with Euro 4 emissions rules, Martin Motors is fitting all the vehicles with a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) system.

 

In Italy, LPG vehicles receive a 1,500 euros (13,527 yuan) state incentive, which already has

 

been included in the announced list prices.

 

Carmen Covrig, general manager of the Romanian importer CEMI Group, said the Romanian homologation of the car is almost complete.

 

CEMI Group last year sold about 1,200 units of the Chinese-built Shuanghuan CEO large SUV in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Czech Republic.

 

Martin Motors also is the distributor for Shuanghuan Automobile, based in Shijiazhuang. Martin Motors has the rights to sell Shuanghuan vehicles in all of western Europe except for France and Netherlands. It also has rights for sales in central Europe.

 

Martin Motors has a network of 87 independent dealers that sell its vehicles. However, Martin Motors will distribute the Chinese vehicles outside its dealer network if an outside retailer is interested.