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Bricklin’s Chery plan fades
Chinese Chery cars not coming to US.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
November 28, 2006
No Cherys for Bricklins. Not any more, rather. Malcolm Bricklins plans of importing a quarter million
Chinese-built automobiles to the US seem to have hit the speed-breaker.
Reports quoting the Wall Street Journal said that Bricklins Visionary Vehicles will no longer be importing
Chery vehicles to the United States. Though the project went on stream two years ago, Bricklin had been on
the backfoot, putting off the import plans twice following skepticism from the media. Now, with this
development, investors and retailers are an irked lot.
However, Bricklin isn’t giving up so soon. He has said that the company would definitely start importing
vehicles. Though the vehicles may not be Cherys, it will be his own company that will be designing and
producing the cars and SUVs, and they would be built by Chinese automakers.
Meanwhile, another report said that, DaimlerChrysler is on the verge of teaming up with Chery. According to
Daimler, a decision might come about by the end of the month. Chery had impressed DCX by showing off a
troupe of new concept cars featuring attractive new designs, styled by Pininfarina and packed with all sorts
of safety equipment, such as stability control, ABS brakes and side-curtain airbags.
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