Malcolm Bricklin has dropped his plan to bring Chery-produced cars to North America. Bricklin and his Visionary Vehicles company had planned to import up to 250,000 cars to North America. Bricklin originally was planning a U.S. launch of Chery Automobiles in January 2007, but had since pushed the launch back several times to late 2008 or early 2009.

However, Bricklin’s plans seem to have been done in by Chery’s relationship with several Western automakers, including Fiat and DaimlerChrysler. Fiat plans to buy four-cylinder engines from Chery, and Chery is the leading candidate to build the Dodge Hornet. The Chrysler group may import Chery models to the U.S., and brand them as Dodges.

Bricklin says Visionary Vehicles now plans to design its own vehicles and contract production to a Chinese automaker for export to the U.S. and other markets, including possibly Europe. According to a source close to Bricklin, Chery Automobiles, the FAW (First Automobile Works) Group, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Geely Automobile Global are in the mix.

## Source: AutoWeek ##

Posted in: Chrysler, News, Industry, China, Fiat, Chery
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