Dodge-badged small car from China appears imminent
Word out of Detroit today has Chrysler almost ready to sign and seal a deal with Chinese automaker Chery Automobile. We just talked about this a few days ago, but it looks like it's actually going to happen any time now. DaimlerChrysler had previously told us that it really needed a partner if it were going to succeed at the low-margin end of the lineup, where Chery can certainly help with one of its small car platforms. The most likely vehicle coming out of this partnership would be the Dodge Hornet concept in production form. Dodge wants to be more competitive globally and Chery has the ability to produce the subcompacts and superminis Dodge would need to be a real player. Chery has also wanted to establish themselves in the U.S. to help build some credibility for the company, so this might be good for both parties.
Caught somewhere in the middle of this negotiation is none other than Malcolm Bricklin who has been working on his own Chery import deal. Bricklin should be well-known to Autoblog readers. His plans to make the Chery the
[Source: Automotive News, sub req]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
judd 3:56PM (10/03/2006)
I don't know if I should look forward to it or be worried. I hope they figured out that safety issue. Looks like a neat fun car.
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doug 4:01PM (10/03/2006)
I thought Bricklin was going for BMW features/performance for Chevy price, not cheap and cheerful. Maybe the Dodge will be a separate product from Chery.
I am having a flashback to the 80's, Dodge Colt aka Mitsu Mirage anyone?? So our fine US engineers have had NO ability to design a quality small car for the last 30 years?? It really is embarrassing.
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jacob 4:06PM (10/03/2006)
Why is Chrysler doing business with a company that does not respect the intellectual property rights of other American companies? I hope GM does something to block this deal. For those who don't know, Cherry made a one for one copy of GM's Daewoo Matiz and sells it in East Asia. The Chinese courts so far had been reluctant to take any action against Cherry because they demanded that GM actually proved that an unauthorized copy was done (as if the fact that you can swap components, like doors, between the two cars is not enough).
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G 4:16PM (10/03/2006)
I like the Rolls in the background. As for the Dodge Nitro-esque looking two door thing. They can keep it.
http://www.automobilesdeluxe.blogspot.com
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G 4:17PM (10/03/2006)
Ah, correction, there appears to be four doors.
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rwdmtparkingonly 4:28PM (10/03/2006)
This is how Chery's current compact does in crash tests, the doors don't even stay shut:
http://paultan.org/archives/2006/02/18/chery-qq-crash-test/
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Anchojoe 4:31PM (10/03/2006)
A Chinese made Dodge. I can hardly wait...
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Nick 11:21PM (10/03/2006)
"So our fine US engineers have had NO ability to design a quality small car for the last 30 years??"
Not quite. US auto makers just don't have the manufacturing capability to build profitable cars of such a small scale. Hard to build this Hornet in a Durango factory, for example. Caliber is about as small as Chrylser Group can go. And we've yet to see if that will be profitable, but it should be, thanks to sharing with the 2 Jeep platforms. I believe the Neon was the first profitable US manufactured compact ever made. This thing is even smaller.
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GOKARTN 4:37PM (10/03/2006)
Chery also has the rights to the tri-tech engine which is used in the MINI and was a joint effort between Chrysler and BMW.
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Chivo 4:52PM (10/03/2006)
I'm a mopar fan. I currenty have an '06 Dodge Charger and have had two Dodge Rams in the past. But if DCX decides to bring a Chinese car to the US, I will never buy Mopar again, ever.
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Josh E Oliver 4:53PM (10/03/2006)
To think.....Hyundai started off in the same fashion all those many moons ago.
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Noah 5:00PM (10/03/2006)
Yeah everyone REALLY likes everything they own that was made in China.
Oooo yeah those wheels do tend to fall off sometimes, don't worry it's covered on warrenty, hope you weren't going too fast.
65 you say? Whole car is totaled? No I'm sorry sir we can't fix that but we'll send you out a replacement as soon as you get out of the hospital.
--Noah
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Noah 5:03PM (10/03/2006)
Your comments: Regarding doug's comment, they CAN design a small car, however it ends
up costing too much because they have to be paid such high wages to
pay for their expensive schooling and their healthcare, but even
that's ok. The problem comes in making it stateside cheap enough that
people will buy it, it's becomming harder and harder to do. Remember
that 1 GM worker has 13 other people who aren't working who his
labour's profit have to go to supporting in one form or another. That
man in China working the spot welder has somewhere on the order of
none..As for the comment that Hyundai started out this way,
you bet they did... and look how HORRIBLE their cars were when they
first arived? Chinese cars will be worse than that, atleast against
todays cars. Ie the 2006 Chinese car is better than the 86 Hyundai
but not better than the 2006 Hyundai, You'll note that the price of a
Hyundai Accent has gone up a lot... something like 400%
--Noah
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DPC car videos 5:05PM (10/03/2006)
I am starting to like this car, it has a Mini Cooper feeling to it.
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Zetha 5:19PM (10/03/2006)
another "american" care to be proud of
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doug 6:36PM (10/03/2006)
Noah, who says they have the ability to design a successful small car. Look at the small cars they have designed in the last 25 years: Dodge Omni- POS, Dodge Shadow - POS, Dodge Neon - POS, and now Dodge Caliber (hardly a small car at 3000lbs) - POS, poor driving, bad engines, cheap interior.
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JON 7:17PM (10/03/2006)
China is opposed to sanctions on N.Korea and Iran due to those countries aggressive nuclear programs.An alliance between China and Iran seems imminent.Oh,the car is cool.
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hmmm 10:05PM (10/03/2006)
here is a pic of that chery copy of the chevy, it looks like you could swap the doors and windows and just about all the parts except the bumpers, so sad, and it sold like hotcakes cause it was way cheaper than the chevy...........
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/481/cheryph9.png
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GOT 9:42PM (10/04/2006)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOT CHERY!!! Sigh... I WAS really wanting the Hornet.
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crackerjack 6:48AM (10/04/2006)
Hey, Lithious and the rest of the Patriots, no comments on this one? This decision must have been made by the German 1/2 of the company, eh?
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