Visionary plan to import Chinese cars derailed

As you may know, legendary automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin recently set up Visionary Vehicles in order to bring low-priced Chery cars from China to the U.S.

Autoweek now reports that this project seems to have gone south, as Chery has announced plans to work with several automakers, notably:

• Fiat, who will be buying 100,00 engines a year from Chery.
• DaimlerChrysler, who aims to produce the Dodge Hornet through Chery.

Autoweek says that Chery may have broken off talks with Visionary because DaimlerChrysler will be importing several Chery models, branded as Dodges, to the U.S.
Visionary's revised plan is to design its own models, manufacture them in China, and sell them in the U.S. Possible candidates: Chery, First Automobile Works, Shanghai Automotive, and Geely.