Some months back I wrote in this blog space about when the US might see a Chinese car land on its shores. It looks like the wait, at least for one potential importer, just got longer.
Yugo mastermind Malcolm Bricklin, through his Visionary Vehicles, originally planned to have a low-priced, high-quality, Chinese-built car in the US by early January. Delays were followed by more delays. Finally, the Chinese company Bricklin tapped to build the cars, Chery Automobile, backed out of the deal citing the fact that it was just not ready for the US automotive Prime Time.
When Bricklin first rolled out his idea for importing Chinese cars, many snickered that rounding up dealers would be tough. After all, the conventional wisdom was that “high-quality Chinese car” was right up there with “honest used car salesman” in the world of automotive oxymorons.
However, to date Bricklin has lined up nearly 30 dealers eager to get in on the ground floor of the Chinese-built car market. Perhaps surprisingly, Bricklin’s dealers cheered the bust-up of his deal with Chery. They claim that while manufacturing prowess in China is up to snuff, the fledgling economic powerhouse still has a ways to go on engineering and design.
Excuse me? Aren’t these the same people who gave the world paper, gunpowder, and the printed word? I know, I know. What have you done for me lately?
So Bricklin and his dealers hope to move forward with an as-yet-unnamed Chinese partner or partners to build cars that will be designed and engineered in the US. Only no one is saying who those engineers and designers might be. This blogger has an idea or two on that.
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