If one thinks about it, the only truly great thing Malcolm Bricklin ever did was bring Subarus to America. Other than that, Yugo? The Bricklin? Entirely amusing vehicles, but only if other people own them. So who really expected his venture with Chery to succeed? Well, we kind of did. At least for a while. But now that the Cheries are possibly on board to build the Dodge Hornet, Bricklin's holding the bag, calling the cars' quality not up to snuff, and deciding that Visionary Vehicles is going to design their own automobiles and find a producer in China to build them. We're suddenly feeling like this just won't end well. [Thanks to Kevin for the tip.] – Davey G. Johnson

Bricklin drops Chinese import plan [Inside Line]

Related:
Bricklin Delays Chinese Imports Yet Again [Internal]

Will the Dodge Hornet be made in China? Automotive News reports today that DaimlerChrysler is in "late-stage negotiations" with China's Chery Motors to build a new small car for export, a car most believe will be one based on the Hornet concept (pictured) DCX showed in Geneva earlier this year. DaimlerChrysler executives are mum on the deal, saying they won't announce a small-car partnership until the end of the year. Still, a Chery-Chrysler partnership also calls to question a longstanding bid by auto entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin to bring Chery cars to the US under his Visionary Vehicles badge. According to AN, Bricklin says he won't be closed out by a Chery-Chrysler partnership, and that Chery-built Chryslers will help his cause by legitimizing Chery's production capabilities. He also says his joint-venture with Chery will be finalized by year's end. Either way, Chinese cars are coming, possibly sooner than we think.

Related:
V-Dub Snubbed: Volkswagen out of Dodge Hornet Production Deal [internal]

"We are putting our face out there and saying, 'Look at us.' And if we do our job, we're going to win this game," says Malcolm Bricklin. "And if we don't, we're going to get our ass kicked right on the first day." According to the Art Vandelay of the auto industry, the joint venture to bring Chinese cars to our shores is going more slowly than he'd anticipated, now saying that Visionary Vehicles will launch sales in late 2008 or early 2009, introducing a new model every three months. We're sort of holding our breath, but kinda not.

Bricklin delays plans for importing Chinese cars [Reuters]

Related:
Brickin's First? Chery Crossover Unveiled in China [Internal]

Tim Ciasulli, CEO of Planet Honda and head of the Visionary Vehicles Dealer Board is way stoked. Completely, utterly and totally stoked. Stoked the point of irrational stokedom, in fact. As the head of a a family-owned dealership chain which has sold nearly a million cars, he claims he's never seen an opportunity as incredible as Brickin's Visionary Vehicles/Chery deal. He visited the plant in Wuhu, China and came back raving, saying, "I was in my hotel room in China when the BBC announced that General Motors was cutting 30,000 workers, 25 percent of their workforce.

"If I was not a part of the Chery/Visionary Vehicles venture, I would have felt despair for the auto industry in the United States." Now, all I can think about is that this is the golden opportunity of a lifetime." We're still pretty skeptical of the current Chinese cars, and we think Ciasulli's spewing a bit much in the way of hyperbole, but they are coming whether through Visionary's venture or otherwise and everyone else is gonna have to deal with it.

Ciasulli Says Chery/Visionary Vehicles Joint Venture Is Solid Gold For The American Market [The Auto Channel]

Related:
Chery Issues Recall, Cows GM [Internal]

Visionary Vehicles has run into another snag when it comes to bringing Chinese cars to the slavering American masses. Apparently, Bricklin and co. offered two hundred mil in seed money to Chery Automobile to get the ball rolling on development of an American-spec vehicle. Thus far, Visionary's been unable to raise the entire amount from investors and the Chery people are getting a tad anxious. Plus, thus far, Visionary only has one dealership publicly announced, and franchising was supposed to raise a large portion of the cash for the venture.

Beyond the monetary issues, Chery has stumbled upon safety and quality peccadilloes when it comes to American tastes and safety standards everything from exposed corners on dashes that would fail crash tests to crappy stereos and unorthodox color choices. However, while development for America is stopped in its tracks for now, European development is continuing forward, meaning that Chery may pop the Continent before it deflowers the New World.

Chery's U.S. plan stalls: Bricklin's Chinese partner wants cash — not promises [AutoWeek]

Related:
Spy Photos: 2008 Chery Crossover [Internal]

According to Visionary Vehicles' spokeswoman Wendi "Oh Lord, Take Me Downtown, I'm Just Looking for Some" Tush, the Chery vehicles they're importing from China won't be branded as such in the US due to pressure from GM, who claim the word's too similar to "Chevy." "They're bigger than we are and they have more lawyers than we do," she explains. "It's all about keeping value to the consumer." That and not getting the dingleberries sued outta Bricklin's tush, we suspect.

Chinese car maker Chery will market under different name in US [Detroit News]

Related:
A Chery? A Chevy? GM Wants Bricklin to Call the Whole Thing Off [Internal]