Geely LC Panda concept

The Geely LC Panda concept combines a hatchback with a powerful all-wheel drive platform to wow audiences. Photo: Neil Dowling

At any car dealership there is always at least one crazy person. Once-conservative China is jumping aboard an outrageous concept car, and Geely - one of China's biggest automakers with $24 billion in 2012 - is unveiling its all-wheel-drive baby Panda.

Suitable for the crowded city streets of Shanghai and Beijing? Definitely.

Squeezing the frame of a big truck under the Panda - a normally lifeless 63kW bubble car - is purely for crowd attraction. Too bad Geely didn't apply the same inoculation to one of their existing XNUMXWD vehicles.

The Panda, referred to in export markets including New Zealand as the LC, was planned for Australia but was abandoned this year due to a lack of electronic stability control. However, it has a five-star accident rating under the China-NCAP testing program.

The car cannot be called Panda in most markets because the name is registered by Fiat. To echo the Panda name in China, Panda paw-shaped taillights are used in the design.