Optikal

According to the NY Times:

DETROIT, Jan. 2 (AP) - The man who brought the Yugo and Subaru to this country and built a gull-wing sports car bearing his name has a new project: selling low-cost Chinese-made cars in the United States.

Chery Automobile Company, owned by the Chinese government, has signed a deal with the privately held Visionary Vehicles of New York to sell Chery's cars in the United States, Malcolm Bricklin, Visionary's chief executive, said Sunday.

It is the first deal to import Chinese-made vehicles designed for the American market. Mr. Bricklin said Visionary was investing $200 million in the venture.

The companies aim to sell 250,000 vehicles in five models in 2007: a compact sedan, a midsize sedan, a car-sport-utility crossover sedan, a sport luxury coupe and a sport utility vehicle. They hope to sell one million vehicles in 8 to 10 models by 2012, said Visionary's chief of staff, Paul Lambert.

Mr. Bricklin was behind the selling of the low-cost Yugoslavian-made Yugo cars in the United States in the late 1980's and early 1990's. His company, Yugo America, collapsed in 1992 amid falling sales and production problems in Yugoslavia, which was in the middle of a civil war.

Mr. Bricklin started importing Subaru cars from Japan in 1968. In 1974, he founded a short-lived Canadian company to build a gull-winged Bricklin SV-1 sports car.

Chery is China's eighth-largest automaker. It was founded in 1997 and sold about 90,000 vehicles in China in 2004.

cyber_x

Sure, I've got no problem with a Chinese car.

MrAlex

Wheels look hideous.

Optikal

I am sure my girlfriend would like the pug looking thing...

But hey, it might become the newest chick car sensation and bump off the New Beetle.

Officer_down

Uh, soon everything will be made in China. The computers you're using are most likely made in China, I know my Toshiba was, and so is almost everything else in my household.

FO2K

I would guess that within five years China will loom as a threat to the Japanese car industry, within ten will be a real competitor. In the long run China will be making most of the cars inported into the US.

Just a matter of economics.

Traveler

I was in Shanghai a few months ago, and I was surprised to find the streets overrun with locally produced Buicks. How long before GM starts importing "american" cars from China?

Ooalloems2koO

i would rather buy korean car

Stealth Operator

Many cars currently on the market are already made in China ... Of course, you can always live under the impression of where the original manufacturer originates. Add one more brand/label/company that's all, otherwise it's just the same deal with what other major manufacturers are currently doing ... Going offshore to search for cheaper/reduced production costs whilst maximizing profits.

Saki GT

My computer was made in Taiwan, thank you very much.

I think it will be a while before I consider buying a chinese car.