Posted on 01/02/2005 1:49:07 PM PST by Pharmboy
DETROIT (AP) - The man who brought the Yugo and Subaru to this country and built a gull-wing sports car bearing his name has a new project - selling low-cost Chinese-made cars in the United States. Chery Automobile Co., owned by the Chinese government, has signed a deal with the privately held Visionary Vehicles LLC of New York to sell Chery's cars in U.S., Malcolm Bricklin, Visionary's chief executive, said Sunday in a news release.
It would be the first deal to import Chinese-made cars to this country, The Detroit News reported in Sunday editions.
Bricklin was behind the selling of the low-cost Yugoslavia-made Yugo cars in the United States in the late 1980s and early '90s. His company, Yugo America Inc., collapsed in 1992 amid falling sales and production problems in war-torn Yugoslavia.
He also started importing Subaru cars from Japan in 1968. In 1974, he founded a short-lived Canadian company to build a gull-winged Bricklin SV-1 sports car.
Chery is China's eighth-largest automaker. It was founded in 1997 and sold about 90,000 vehicles in China in 2004.
Bricklin said his exclusive distribution agreement is for five Chery models that would go on sale in January 2007 - a compact sedan, a midsize sedan, a car-sport utility crossover sedan, a sport/luxury coupe and an SUV. The agreement was reached Dec. 16, he said.
"The North American automobile market is complex, competitive and always changing," Chery President Yin Tongyao said in a written statement. "We are looking forward to working with Visionary Vehicles and taking advantage of Malcolm's expertise as we enter it."
Calls to Chery's headquarters at Wuhu, China, were not answered Sunday.
South Korea's GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. sued Chery in December, accusing it of illegally copying one of its car models, the Chevrolet Spark.
"Bricklin was behind the selling of the low-cost Yugoslavia-made Yugo cars in the United States in the late 1980s and early '90s. His company, Yugo America Inc., collapsed in 1992 amid falling sales and production problems in war-torn Yugoslavia"
Not to mention the Yugo was a deathtrap.....
" A liberal guy and a liberal gal....Buy a Yugo...."
Gee, couldn't he first try bringing back a real European classic like the Trabant?
"And they drive with pride..."
Is this car being underwritten by Hasbro?
Why do Yugo's have a heater for the back window? To keep your hands warm when pushing.
Why don't Yugo's sustain much damage in a front-end collision? The tow truck takes the impact.
How do you double the value of a Yugo? Fill the tank!
What is found on the last two pages of every Yugo owner's manual? The bus schedule.
What do you call a Yugo with a flat tire? Totalled.
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FYI: High winds blew a yugo off the bridge in the 90's.
LOL!! A gas cap for a Yugo--Yuk Yuk...
"He also started importing Subaru cars from Japan in 1968."
Those were really little Subaru cars back then, as I recall.
Whooh...that'll leave a mark.
There is a rumor that the Smart car will be imported from Germany. I drove one for several months when I was in Luzern Switzerland. It was cute, and worked well. Good thing that I always ate in restaurants, because there is no trunk.
I think probably Fisher-Price.
He who laughs last etc.
It was inevitable!
"It was cute, and worked well."
I saw quite a few of these in cities in Holland while visiting relatives. I also saw a few of them out on the highways in August in Germany where it seemed folks had taken them on vacations across Europe. They seem out of place on the highways.
Each ones comes with a time release chemical weapon to kill as many foreign devils as possible
Bringing the Subaru to America wasn't a bad idea. I truly love mine, even if it makes everybody think I'm a lesbian. (Got NRA, Bush-Cheney, and foxhunting stickers all over the back of it to disabuse them of that notion.) Most of the people I know who get Subarus are able to drive them to 250,000 miles. I'm certainly planning to.
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