Chrysler's deal with Chery on hold
It may be time to stop holding your breath. The planned deal between Chrysler LLC and the Chery Automobile Company to bring a Chrysler-badged Chery to our shores seems to be completely over... no, really this time. While there was nothing inherently wrong with the concept of importing the small fuel-efficient cars to North America (even if there were near insurmountable obstacles to overcome in the area of safety and emission standards), both companies have been crushed by the economy. According to a former Chery executive, "I wouldn't place much hope on it... both companies have their own problems to deal with, and both have run out of money." As neither company ever offered a public timetable for the arrival of the cars after the initial announcement early last year, the news is unlikely to come as a surprise.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
john 2:39PM (11/17/2008)
Chrsyler still plans to do a smaller car that is going be based on a Nissan.
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geo.stewart 2:38PM (11/17/2008)
I thought the Hornet was going to be Nissan Cube based anyway?
If so, there really isnt a place for a Chery as US will not go to any smaller, IMHO
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TJ 2:42PM (11/17/2008)
cube? no. Versa platform.
geo.stewart 3:05PM (11/17/2008)
"Update, 6/16/08: Paul Lienert of Edmunds' Inside Line claims that Nissan will build the production version of the Dodge Hornet in calendar-year 2010, basing it on the Renault-Nissan global B-car platform shared by the Renault Clio and Nissan Cube. The Hornet will first be built in Japan, and if successful, will move to Mexico, according to inside Line"
AZZO45b 9:44PM (11/17/2008)
The "Hornet" is a Nissan AutoBlog. Chrysler had staff scouting China for a home base there & IMO that is on hold.
Also I'll be surprised if "Hornet" is allowed to be used by Dodge... Honda has it for motorcycles & Chrysler had other showcar names blocked in the past with exceptions made for concept properties.
Torrent 2:39PM (11/17/2008)
In the name of "that's so raven", Oh Snap!!
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mkevin88 4:38PM (11/17/2008)
u have one of the best avatar's on this site
Torrent 5:09PM (11/17/2008)
thanks. I get that a lot now.
jrhmobile 2:43PM (11/17/2008)
I imagine that any deal with Chryslerberus is currently on hold ... don't know why this would be any different ...
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P.V. 3:19PM (11/17/2008)
Does anyone remember the story of the Chinese man who was driving his Mercedes-Benz recklessly without his seatbelt on and his airbags didn't deploy because the car hit in one of the few places that wouldn't trigger airbag deployment. He walked out safe but angry, condemning Mercedes for making crappy cars and publicly swearing that he would only buy Chinese-made cars thereafter.
THAT story made me laugh in a sad way. He wouldn't have been able to tell the story if he had been driving a Chinese car (OK, they have gotten better, especially Roewe, but all the good/decent cars were introduced months after this incident happened, so the Chinese cars on the market were the crappy ones that have given Chinese cars a bad overall reputation).
China's car companies will need to partner with other companies in order to get over the obstacles of safety and perceived quality. I remember one of its (Geely's?) sedans got 1 star out of 5 in a crash test for essentially imploding on impact. I don't think Chrysler's safety reputation is that bad (although its quality sucks), so this should work out for both companies' favor.
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Mobius_1 3:20PM (11/17/2008)
How about bringing the Viper to China? That would be quite awesome, although the tax on that would probably be insane.
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Eek 5:23PM (11/17/2008)
This is a shame but one that should have been expected with the current financial situations. Unfortunately I'd imagine that no Hornet means no Demon as well.
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Barry 6:28PM (11/17/2008)
The exorbitant cost of gas the past year has done serious damage to our economy and society. Record numbers of homes and jobs are being lost. We need to take lessons from our mistakes. While we are doing the happy dance around the lower cost at the pumps OPEC is planning more cuts to jack the prices back up.Why not take some of these bail out billions and invest in America becoming energy independent. Driving an electric car would cost the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon. The electricity could be generated by solar or wind power. Green technology would create millions of badly needed new jobs. A win-win situation. What America needs is a green revolution. It is time for us to move forward with alternative energy. Jeff Wilson just wrote a new book called The Manhattan Project of 2009. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about our economy and it's effect on our society and would like to see our country become energy independent! www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
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John 7:56PM (11/17/2008)
"According to a former Chery executive, 'I wouldn't place much hope on it... both companies have their own problems to deal with, and both have run out of money.'"
What? How is Chery out of money? They are bankrolled by China's government (Provence of Anhui).
Let's stop kidding ourselves Chery. You're no where near ready to play in the big time, the US or even EU markets for that matter.
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Vu 4:28PM (11/18/2008)
Yes, let's bring in a Chinese car and label it an American car. that will do wonders for our reliability records. is Yugo still around? maybe we can bring it under the Cadillac name. luxury on the cheap.
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