Chrysler says talk of breakup with Chery "Absurd"
Inside Line is reporting that Chery will not be building the Dodge Hornet or Demon after all. They deducted this from a report in the Wall Street Journal published on Monday that quotes Simon Elliott, president and CEO of Chrysler Group China Sales Ltd. as saying that his company really wants to fill product holes in its lineup in China, but that it won't be working with Chery to do it. Inside Line takes that information and combines it with a quote from Chrysler's Design Chief Trevor Creed at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September when Creed said Chery's B-segment platform isn't appropriate for the Hornet.
So Elliott says Chery won't be building Chryslers for sale in China, and Creed says Chery's platform isn't right for the Hornet. To us, that doesn't exactly add up to no more Chrysler/Chery deal.
So we sent an email to Chrysler and heard back from David Elshoff at Chrysler's Business Operations Communications. His e-mail simply said, "Absurd." To get a little more detail, we called him up. Elshoff tells Autoblog that Chrysler and Chery are definitely still working together on building cars for export, but not for cars to be sold in China. He tells us that the Chery A1 platform is still targeted for use as a Chrysler vehicle to go on sale in Latin America by the end of 2008. Elshoff says the two companies are also still working on a version of the Hornet, for sale possibly by the end of 2009.
So there, straight from the source, Chrysler and Chery still buddies.
[Source: Wall Street Journal via Inside Line]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Russell 6:52PM (10/17/2007)
Whatever it is on this picture looks Absurd.
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JJ 9:30AM (10/18/2007)
whats wrong with it? If people like the xB, then this is obviously better plus its a turbo, i hear. only thing that bothers me is the Made in China sticker.
Gary 8:43PM (10/17/2007)
I had read previously (quote from Tom Lasorda if I recall) that the Hornet was ALWAYS a separate project from the China car. I don't really think this is news. Not to say of course that the Hornet would not wind up being built in China - just that it wouldn't be off the A1 platform.
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Gary 8:43PM (10/17/2007)
To clarify, I meant that it's Inside Line that is trying to make news where none exists, not Autoblog.
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Anti-believer 1:37AM (10/18/2007)
By the time they build this... there won't be a market for it.
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ryan 1:14PM (10/18/2007)
Sorry Chrysler, but I'm not into much of anything coming from Red China. I'll pass, despite how cool the Hornet could be
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ebm14 1:33PM (10/18/2007)
I guess they will be lazy and hand it to the Mexicans to make along side the PT Cruiser. Just use our boys to make the cars(and ladies).
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dragin 11:52AM (11/20/2007)
Combine this with what Chrysler's Phil Murtaugh said to Detroit News around October 27th.....,
"Perhaps the task we decided to bite off is a little bit more challenging than either Chery or Chrysler thought at the beginning"
.....and I can understand Inside Line's conclusions. The relationship does indeed appear to be cooling.
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