2009 Shanghai Auto Show: Dongfeng Coupe

SHANGHAI, China — The badge on the deck lid carries the official government designation: EQ7240BP. But the bright yellow car seen in spy photos currently circulating on the Web is known widely in China as "the Dongfeng Coupe" — with decidedly negative connotations. It will make its debut at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show.

Chinese media were absolutely brutal three years ago when Dongfeng showed its first hatchback coupe concept — complete with a wacky accordion-style rear end. The latest iteration of the car has been cleaned up a bit but still manages to borrow heavily from such disparate sources as Hyundai and Porsche, and not necessarily in a good way.

China Car Times has compiled some of the pithier local critiques of the updated Dongfeng Coupe. They range from "ugly" and "disgusting" to "rubbish." The foreign press has not been much kinder. The Web site's own judgment: "We hope that this doesn't get launched."

It is perhaps no surprise that the car was developed in-house at Dongfeng, which has alliances in China with PSA Peugeot Citroën, Nissan, Honda and Kia. What appears to be more alarming, at least to the locals, is that Dongfeng actually plans to put the coupe into production later this year, equipping it with a 134-horsepower Mitsubishi 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine.

In the meantime, the rest of the world will get its first official glimpse of this beauty next week at the Shanghai show.

Dongfeng reportedly is considering a base price of just under $30,000.

Inside Line says: It still looks an awful lot like a bad Hyundai Tiburon knockoff. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent