LexFather

Small cars are the future of automotive transport, at least as long as fuel consumption and traffic are a concern. To that end, Chrysler decided to team up with Chery, a Chinese car manufacturer, to save on development costs. The first car to come of the trans-pacific union will be a re-badged Chery A1.

The re-branded Chery will first go on sale in Mexico ‘very soon’ as a Dodge, and will also come to the U.S. in 2009 once emissions and safety testing is complete. The car is quite inexpensive in its homeland at around US$7,000. Bringing the car to America will likely increase the cost somewhat, but even after a hike to defray the higher testing and advertising costs of the U.S. market, the price could realistically stay under US$10,000, a number that is backed up by previous reports from July.

The previously on-again, off-again relationship between Chrysler and Chery had been delayed because the American company didn’t feel any of Chery’s current production was up to Chrysler’s standards, and then the sale of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management put things on hold for a while. We don’t know what has changed, but it seems the two have worked out their differences, and North Americans will be reaping the rewards in the form of a small, inexpensive car within the next year.

Lexmex

This reminds me of the Hyundai Atos that Dodge already sells here for Hyundai.

Uh oh, something for me to look forward, too. I guess I'll have to do a test drive and report on it once it arrives here in Mexico.

It will for sure have to be under $10K in Mexico. This is an issue that has been affecting Toyota and other Asian carmakers as people aren't making the jump necessarily to those vehicles above $10K USD and the economic woes affecting the U.S. are now definitely being felt here. In addition, Mexicans tend to keep their vehicles for a much, much longer period of time than they do in the United States.

There are only a few vehicles that fit the bill under $10K USD in Mexico and usually just on the base model,

Chevrolet's Chevy (grandson of the Chevette),
http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/ch...ype=under-100k

Ford IKON, http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/fo...ype=under-100k

Ford KA, http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/fo...ype=under-100k

Ford Courier (a small pickup), http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/fo...ype=under-100k

Pontiac Matiz, http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/po...ype=under-100k

Dodge Atos (actually the Hyundai Atos), http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/do...ype=under-100k

Nissan Tsuru (what the VW Beetle was to Mexico, this has vehicle based on a 90s Sentra has soundly taken its place), http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/ni...ype=under-100k

Volkswagen Pointer (has one of the best paintjobs I have seen for the price, my uncle owns a wagon version of this), http://mx.autos.yahoo.com/newcars/vo...ype=under-100k