No more Chery Visionary Vehicles for the US?
Malcolm Bricklin, who wanted to bring in Chery vehicles into the USA via his company Visionary Vehicles has abandoned his plan, some say because of the news of Daimler Chrysler talking to Chery to produce a small car for them – i.e.: the Dodge Hornet. But the actual story was Chery and Bricklin could not come to an agreement of how to use a US$200 million seed by billionaire George Soros. Malcolm Bricklin has been known to be the one who is daring enough to bring foreign auto brands into the US, some of his better stories have been Subaru, and his worst is likely Yugo.
However, Chery officials have said it still has plans to enter the US market, and Chery suppliers have confirmed that Chery is talking with several potential investors about developing and selling a Chery-branded car in the United States (which isn’t exactly what Mr. Bricklin intended – he wants the cars to be badged Visionary Vehicles), though an agreement is not likely to be reached anytime soon.
Shown above is Chery’s recent Chery A3 concept car, with one more photo of it after the jump.
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December 5, 2006 @ 10:01 am
Now that is an expansion. If only Proton heading the same direction at least 5 years ago. I always compare Proton to Hyundai since they start with almost identical background. But look at Hyundai now. They are miles ahead of Proton.
Can they split out politics, personal agenda and business…? Proton have better future that way. I hate to see Proton fall into other people’s hand. Why I say this..? Because I do have a bit of pride with brand cos it is groomed by Malaysians but the management & quality disappoint me.
It is a very good move indeed for Cherry to go to american market. I bet their engineer & QC will be very busy. Proton should learn a thing or two by now.
Sigh…
mr.syidy
December 5, 2006 @ 10:01 am
thats a pretty decent looking car… esp coming from China… but kinda looks like the new Kia Spectra innit? esp the front part….
December 5, 2006 @ 10:03 am
this is unrelated to chery, but when i first saw the a3 i immediately thought, hey! that looks like a kia! this means that kia has already established a brand-look.
December 5, 2006 @ 10:03 am
Any pic of the Chery A3(TFSI also?!) rear, Paul?
Hmmm….
December 5, 2006 @ 10:10 am
got no rear, but added one side profile. macam ford focus.
December 5, 2006 @ 10:34 am
yup agreed…. but i have to say… i think Proton already have their own image too, that being of a more sporty-oriented producer of cars… all they need to do is build on it… the main problem with Proton is their build quality..and a tech partner like VW will do them a world of good! Look at Perodua.. sure, they just copy another car and give em a facial and other minor updates, but whos complaining?? they’re cars are reputed to have better fit & finish than P1
i think Proton already do a pretty decent job with the chassis engineering and, in some ways, the design (im one of the few tht think savvy looks good) ,so there’s no such thing of Proton losing its ‘identity’ by cooperating with another manufacturer, Skoda and Seat didnt lose theirs!
but then… this is just all teh tarik talk, just i sincerely hope Proton do something quickly or risk losing even the local market to the Chinese and Korean car makers…
December 5, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
remind me of fiat BRAVO,
is it china revamping the fiat body,?
December 5, 2006 @ 8:03 pm
Dated design… *YAWN*
December 6, 2006 @ 12:22 am
Rather reminds me of the Seat Leon actually.
December 6, 2006 @ 11:02 am
The 1st pic looks like GEN.2.
December 6, 2006 @ 11:38 am
What has Soros’ seed money got to do with chery and bricklin? Billionaire Soros was responsible for many countries’ economic turmoil although he makes himself known as a philanthropist. Why suddenly Soros’ name propped out from nowhere?
December 6, 2006 @ 2:12 pm
not impress with d dsg but lets give a try to dis chic…
December 6, 2006 @ 10:14 pm
Ive driven and ride a cherry alado vehicle(its an mpv) before, the r&h,nvh and qc were terrible..i wonder how china ppl appreciate a vehicle there, it might just for point to point transport, which thts y i hardly believe the States ppl will consider buying this brand as they most concern are all tht attributes.
The car looks good to me but like a very cun singer with a disastrous voice..not properly tuned..wont sell one im pretty sure..so thts what cherry about..apart from their freaking great ability to copycat, everything else are well below borderline std. n thts why they can sell their cars really cheap, they eliminate r&h nvh and qc development..
n for the above car, yes it looks like it got a size of gen2 and kia rio but to me frm the side it looks more like gen2..another brilliant job frm cherry *yawn*
December 6, 2006 @ 10:15 pm
good try..chery.