now its 2009 :(

6818 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by nikol69, Nov 5, 2008

ash

Discussion Starter · Jan 9, 2007

Chinese-built luxury cars could make U.S. debut in '09

2007/1/9
DETROIT, AP

Chinese-built luxury vehicles that get 100 miles to the gallon with a plug-in hybrid engine could make their way into the U.S. market in 2009 under a new plan from American entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin.
Bricklin, who brought the Yugo and Subaru to this country, had plans to begin exporting vehicles from China to the U.S. as early as this year in a joint venture with Chery Automobile Co. But the deal fell apart.

Last month, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group and Chery announced they had agreed on a plan for the Chinese manufacturer to build small cars to be sold worldwide.

In an interview Sunday at the North American International Auto Show, Bricklin said his Visionary Vehicles is now pursuing other Chinese manufacturers and has met with about 15 of them to discuss partnership prospects.

He said Visionary Vehicles will design the luxury cars, which would be built at a factory modeled after Toyota Motor Corp.'s plants.

Bricklin said the Chinese-made vehicles could cost 30 percent less than competing models. And he said that like Toyota's successful gas-electric hybrid Prius, the plug-in technology could encourage other automakers to follow suit.

"They need somebody to push it and they need to see how big the market is," Bricklin said.

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1 - 11 of 11 Posts

edge

· #2 · Jan 9, 2007

Bricklin is a con man and full of shit. He has no credibility whatsoever.

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WuzhengNA

· #3 · Jan 10, 2007

Bricklin is one of those few people in the world that would better his chances of success in his new venture if he JUST KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT, just ONCE.

The worst position in the world to be in, business wise, is to over-sell what you "may" be getting "eventually".

Oops, wait, he did that before. A couple times.

Malcom, please, get a car in the States, then give us a call....

Until then, would you mind keeping it down? You are giving those of us that are actually delivering cars in the US a bad name.

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DOHC_Holiday

· #4 · Jan 10, 2007

WuzhengNA said:
Malcom, please, get a car in the States, then give us a call....

He's had two. Subaru and Yugo.

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god_bless_japan

· #5 · Jan 10, 2007

i have driven subaru's, damn good car, Yugo on the other hand.....

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DOHC_Holiday

· #6 · Jan 11, 2007

I have a friend who is a truck mechanic who owned a Yugo. He drove it for years with no problems, probably because he maintained it properly. I have heard stories of people doing no basic maintenance on cheap cars (and not just Yugos) because they're viewed as disposable.

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Rally Red Lancer GTS

· #7 · Feb 18, 2008 (Edited)

More information on Malcom Bricklin and his Visionary Vehicles, formerly LLC and turning in to VV, Inc. He plans to build a plug-in hybrid that he claims will get 100 mpg. And he plans to win an award of $10 million for being the first to produce a 100 mpg mass-produceable vehicle.

http://vvcars.com/

The first 40-50 miles will be electrically-propelled and then a small IC motor will turn on and power an on-board generator, which will turn the vehicle's wheels for a "range" of 800 miles, or more. This large, luxurious car will cost $35,000 "estimated." I wondered what Bricklin was up to all of these months after the Chery deal fell through so I got to Googlin' and found out.

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Dr.Al

· #8 · Feb 18, 2008 (Edited)

I agree completely with Wuzheng:
From a business and marketing perspective, you are always far better off by allowing the public and competition to know only the basics (and downplay your innovations). Then allow your prototype's road test to demonstrate the actual performance (while still disguising the actual design to some extent). Then, when the vehicle actually makes it to the showroom as a better (fit, finish and features) design than had been anticipated- everybody wins.

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