Geely’s opera mask

Top: China Dragon; Bottom: Mybo

Here’s a new car Geely is bringing to the Frankfurt auto show in mid-September.

China Dragon 中国龙 is the new incarnation of Geely’s Mybo 美人豹 sportscar. To project a more “Chinese flavor,” Geely has retooled the front end to resemble a Peking Opera mask – I’m not sure I see it myself.

Geely wants to showcase China’s domestic car manufacturing – to announce on the world stage that China’s design and technology have made great strides (and perhaps to finally rid itself of all that pesky IP-infringement rubbish). It’s as much nationalist as it is corporate; hence the new model’s name.