Official: Chrsyler Group approves small-car agreement with Chinese, Chery Motors

Theoretically and for the time being, the Chrysler Group is up for sale but that doesn’t mean that the Group has halted all its future projects. Today DaimlerChrysler announced that its Supervisory Board approved the framework of a limited partnership to develop small vehicles between the Chrysler Group and Chinese Chery Motor Company. Although this agreement has to be approved by the “almighty” Chinese government, consider it a done deal with the final paper work to be signed by the end of March.
According to DC, under the non-equity partnership, the Chery-built vehicles will be distributed under Chrysler brands, primarily in North America and Western Europe. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below to see the press release
PRESS RELEASE: Auburn Hills, Mich./Stuttgart, Germany - The DaimlerChrysler Supervisory Board today approved the framework of a limited partnership to develop small vehicles between the Chrysler Group and Chery Motor Company of China. The deal is still contingent upon approval by the Chinese government, but the final pact of the framework is expected to be signed by the end of March. Under the non-equity partnership, Chery-built vehicles will be distributed under Chrysler brands, primarily in North America and Western Europe.
Chrysler Group indicated that the partnership would allow the company to become a bigger player on the global automotive stage by giving it access to products in new segments more quickly, with less capital spending.
Small vehicles such as these will allow Chrysler Group brands to compete in segments in which the brands do not currently compete, and which are especially important in price- and fuel-economy sensitive markets. Some 67 percent of all vehicles sold outside of North America are in these segments. Chrysler Group's major competitors in the U.S. and Western Europe have similar arrangements with Asian manufacturers for vehicles in these segments.

Chery to unveil Italian designed Shooting Sport Concept at the Shanghai Show

Chinese carmakers are learning quickly and with help from Europeans, they’re stepping up their pace. Take the three-door, four-seater Shooting Sport Concept for example. Created by Torino Design of Turin, Italy, the Shooting Sport could theoretically posse a potential “made in China” threat to BMW’s MINI. A little bit far fetched but you get our point. Via: Autoblog.com

Chery: Chrysler Deal Still On

Despite a recent report on German newspaper Handelsblatt that said Chery wanted to re-examine a deal to build small cars for Chrysler due to the sale of the latter to Cerberus, the Chinese car maker has still got the hots for Chrysler. A Chery spokesman told Reuters today that the German newspaper had misquoted Chery’s general manager, Zhang Li, and that the earlier agreement with Chrysler, approved by DaimlerChrysler’s Supervisory Board in February 2007, was still on. According to the non-equity partnership, the Chery-built vehicles will be distributed under Chrysler and Dodge logos, primarily in North America and Western Europe. Via: Reuters

Chrysler Seals Deal With Chinese Carmaker Chery

After several months of negotiations and in the midst of Chrysler Group’s divorce with the Daimler Group, Chrysler and Chery Automobile Co finalized their agreement today in Beijing to jointly develop, produce and distribute small and sub-compact cars.
Under the agreement, the Chery will manufacture the cars in China and the Chrysler Group will distribute them under the Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge brands for North America, Europe and other major markets. Just before the boyz in white let the ink roll down the paper, Chrysler’s CEO Tom LaSorda said that the agreement with Chery will play a big role in the American car manufacture’s plan of doubling sales in the next three to five years. -Continued after the jump
According to LaSorda, exports of the Chinese made mini and sub-compact car will begin in Latin America and eastern Europe within 12 months while U.S. exports are expected to commence in mid-2009. However, the first model exported, a Dodge badged vehicle based on Chery's A-1 small car will not be exported to the U.S. or Europe.

Dodge Breeze: Chinese Built Minicar Scooped

While Plymouth might be resting in peace, one of its nametags, the “Breeze” will make a reappearance in a Chrysler Group product, and more specifically, in Dodge’s forthcoming Chinese built minicar. This scoop picture appeared on a Chinese internet forum today and it seems to confirm the rumors supporting that Dodge minicar will be a re-badged version of the recently introduced, Chery A1.
We remind you that the Chrysler Group signed an agreement with Chery Automobile Co. last July to jointly develop, produce, and distribute small cars under the Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge brands for North America, Europe and other markets. -Follow the jump for more pictures of the Chery A1

Chery Faira YY Coupe Coming to Beijing Show

Like its Chinese counterpart Geely, Chery is also readying a spectacular number of new cars and concepts for the 2008 Beijing Auto Show. To be precise, Chery will exhibit 26 models and among them, a new series of mini cars that will be sold under the name Faira. The YY Coupe (ok, it’s just a 3door hatchback, but that’s what Chery calls it) is the sportiest of the Faira series. If anything else, Chery’s Xerox team –err, we mean design team, deserve our kudos for turning a cute car –see Toyota Aygo, into a good looking sporty mini hatch. –Click through for the image gallery

Chinese-Made Dodge Breeze Scooped

Chrysler LLC’s Chinese-built minicar, the Dodge Breeze which is basically a rebadged Chery A1, has been caught… red-handed. As you can see in these scoop pictures that have been circulating in various Chinese forums, despite the manufacture’s attempts to conceal any “Dodge” or “Breeze” badges, someone overlooked the company’s logo on the hub-caps, thus revealing the car’s true identity.

According to reports, Chrysler LLC will start deliveries of the Dodge Breeze to the North American market and in particular Mexico, towards the end of the year. As for the U.S., it is still under discussion whether or not the Chery-built mini car -and consequently, Chrysler, is ready to enter the American market. -More pics after the jump

Video: Revised Camaro Bumblebee from Transformers

Here we go again; just as we were getting used to not hearing anything about the Transformers Movie, our friendly Autobot Bumblebee from the second installation of the Tranformer film called “Rise of the Fallen” has made its way into the internet well before the movie hits the screens in summer 2009.
The film’s producers –in cooperation with GM of course- have given the Camaro based Autobot a more aggressive look thanks to a Z28-like sport treatment that includes a new front bumper with a spoiler, a hood scoop and a slightly different paint job. See more images along with a small video after the jump. -Continued

Beijing Olympics debut for Chery’s A5 Hybrid Vehicles

As China is wearing its eco-conscious outfit for the 2008 Beijing Olympics that will begin in two days time (August 8 – 24), it comes to no surprise that the organizers decided to use a fleet of 50 hybrid cars as part of the transportation arrangements for the Games. Known as the “Olympics Green Messengers”, the vehicles of choice are China’s own Chery A5 BSG and A5 ISG Hybrids that are expected to go into full production in the months following the games.
The A5 BSG is a start-stop hybrid that uses a 12-volt Belt Starter-Generator (BSG) linked to 1.6 litre gasoline engine that’s matted to a 5-speed manual gearbox while the A5 ISG is a more comprehensive mild-hybrid equipped with a 1.3-liter gasoline engine and a 12 kW crankshaft-mounted 151-volt Integrated Starter-Generator (ISG). -Continued
According to Chery, in the ECE Urban drive cycle, the A5 BSG achieves a 7% improvement in fuel consumption over the baseline product while it is expected that the improvement will be greater than 10% in real-world urban driving. For the more complex A5 ISG with its 1.3-liter engine, Chery says that while performance is equivalent with that of a larger 1.6 litre engine, fuel consumption improvement over the NEDC cycle is expected to approach 15% compared to the 1.6-liter benchmark vehicle.

Auto China Unveiled Chery A3 and Storm 2

Euro-style is not just the envy of North America, Chinese car makers wants it just as badly and Chery has called in the help of renowned design studio Pininfarina to achieve just that. Pininfarina is of course best known for its designs for Ferrari (599 GTB), Maserati (GranTurismo S) and other established marques.

Chery and Pinifarina have been working on this project since 2005 and they are now ready for its unveiling. The 3-box saloon (A108) and 2-box hatchback (A107) are ready to go into production. The two cars share the same front end design for instant recognition, with the headlights embracing the grille for a sporty, elegant look.

The rear of the two cars on the other hand are purposely different, to give most cars their own appeal. The 3-box saloon is aiming to compete with the more up-scale saloon with the clean design. The 2-box hatchback will enter the sportier hatch segment and has been styled accordingly. Surely opinions will differ, but in our eyes the two cars could do well in and outside China.

Source: Pinifarina

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New Chevy Nubira Spied

The new Chevy Nubira was caught on camera in Europe earlier today. Chevy’s Nubira, also called Lacetti in some parts of Europe, will replace the current model released in 2003.

Pre-2003, you may remember the Nubira under the Daewoo brand. Once General Motors completed their acquisition of the South Korean company, most Daewoo models were branded as Chevy’s.


This all-new Nubira has a more rounded roofline, with a curvier front-end, and brand-new swept headlights. The photographer points out the glaring similarities between this car and the Opel Spectra, also produced by GM. Five-bolt wheels replace the current model’s four-bolt rims. Our photographer also noticed four-wheel disc brakes on the car.

Chevy will make the Nubira sedan available in 2008, with a wagon coming a little later. We can only hope Chevy makes the classy paint job standard!

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Chery Shooting Sport Concept

Following an intense training course in the fine art of Chinese I have found I am no nearer understanding the language. Fortunately the guys over at Autoblog Chinese appear to have a better understanding than I do and have dug up sketches of one of the most anticipated concepts of the Shanghai Auto Show named the Chery Shooting Sport Concept. Autoblog believes the style is very similar to the Renault Clio Grand Tour Concept, which we tend to agree, however lets not forget the Audi Shooting Brake Concept from the 2005 Tokyo Auto Show which also has similar styling (and a similar name). But which ever this car is based on, it seems set to be just another chinese copycat vehicle. More sketches after the jump.

Source: Autoblog Chinese

Chery Automobiles to Australia

Ateco is sole importer

Ateco, the exclusive importer of Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Citroen cars in Australia and New Zealand is expanding its line-up with Chinese car maker Chery। The deal has been three years in the making, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2005.

Ateco hopes to start selling three Chery models by early 2009, namely a light passenger car, a small passenger car and a small SUV. Chery in turn is planning to unveil four models later this year and 38 new models over the next 5 years.

Last year Chery sold 261,000 units in China and exported another 120,000 units. Chery started producing cars back in 1999, in August 2007 they built their millionth car. Chery has a production capacity of 650,000 units and plans to lift that number up to 1 million annually.

“We believe that China represents the future as a source of automotive products which makes this association with Chery a very exciting development for Ateco,” Mr Neville Crichton, Ateco Governing Director, said.

Source: Ateco

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spotted Chery cars

A number of Chery vehicles in SUV, mini hatch, panel van and sedan shapes, have been spotted at the testing facility of Gerotek, north of Pretoria, the capital city of South Africa. The vehicles, obviously going through familiarisation with that country’s unique environments, were snapped parked near Gerotek’s technical testing centre.

No clear indication yet of which of the Chery models will eventually make their market appearance in SA towards the end of 2008, joining other Chinese names like GWM, Foton, Meiya and others. Chery has the benefit of producing near-Korean quality vehicles, but their designs have come under constant fire for being plagiarised from other automakers. The company sold 381 000 vehicles in 2007, up 24.8 percent from 2006.

More often than not, western markets raise the question of quality when it comes to Chinese-manufactured vehicles, yet everyone acknowledges that many of their toys, electronics, sneakers etc, boast a “made in China” sticker where the eyes can’t see. Chery is a Germany TUV-certified company, not meaning they match German quality, but rather that they meet the minimum standards required, whatever those may be. No need to panic then. Or is there?