Another Chinese-made car for the US market (#30; Topic B)

CNN, featuring the Detroil Auto Show in its Money Matters program today, had an interview of Malcolm Bricklin, who had built cars under that nameplate in the 1970s, and imported Subarus from Japan and Yugos from Yugoslavia in the 1980s and 1990s. This time, he plans to import another Chinese-made car to the USA. (I had mentioned Geely in #24.) Known as Chery -- the name is likely to be changed, as it is too close to Chevy, an affectionate name for Chevrolet -- Bricklin's target is to sell 250,000 cars in 2007. Mainly sports cars, Chery would be priced less than $20,000, some 40% below comparable offerings built in USA, Europe, or Japan -- but, according to Bricklin, superior to them in all other respects, as these cars will be built in brand-new plants using the latest technology and facilities. Let the competition begin.
Posted at 6:01 pm, Saturday, January 14, 2006