Triple Threat: China, Chery & Bricklin
Auto Industry Visionary Malcolm Bricklin Signs Historic Agreement with Chery Automobile Company Becoming the First Major Importer of Chinese Cars to North America
Through His Newly Formed Visionary Vehicles Company Bricklin Takes First Step to Import a Full Line of High-Quality, Luxury-Styled, Affordable Cars to North American Market
NEW YORK, Jan. 3 -- Visionary Vehicles LLC, an international automobile import/distribution company founded by Malcolm Bricklin, has announced an historic agreement with Chery Automobile Company, to import a totally new line of quality vehicles at exceptionally low price points to North America.
These vehicles will be targeted to be priced 30% below comparable models currently being sold in the marketplace and will have a warranty equal to the best in the industry: 10-years/100,000 miles.
The agreement brings three key players together: China, the next major force in tomorrow's economic world; Chery, one of China's most ambitious and fastest growing independent car manufacturers; and Bricklin, recognized as one of the automobile industry's leading entrepreneurs and one of the most experienced automotive importers/brand-builders in the industry.
Visionary Vehicles LLC was formed to search the world for an automotive partner who would help create a new standard for high quality and lower-cost cars in the global market. The journey took Bricklin and his team to Serbia, Romania, Poland, England, India and finally, to China. In China, Bricklin found Chery Automobile Company -- a company with both the ideology and the capabilities compatible with Bricklin's vision. The result is the development and the first major launch of a full line of vehicles from China.
The 2007 launch models will include: * Entry level compact sedan * Mid-size sedan * Crossover-type sedan * Sport and luxury coupe * SUV
These vehicles will be designed by renowned European and Japanese designers, including Bertone and Pininfarina, and will benefit from Chery's modern manufacturing capabilities and efficiencies.
Bricklin is known as one of the industry's most innovative and vastly experienced executives and has overcome the obstacles involved in importing and launching new car lines from distant locations. Bricklin previously founded Subaru of America; manufactured and distributed the Bricklin-SV-1 safety sports car; and imported the Italian-made Pininfarina Spyder and Bertone X1-9 sports cars. In 1984, he founded Yugo America, which sold over 160,000 units in the United States becoming the fastest selling European import, in its launch phase, in U.S. history.
Bricklin, founder and CEO of Visionary Vehicles said, "If I were to describe my perfect holiday wish, it would be to find the perfect car company that agreed with me that the foundation for building a great car company would be Quality, Style, Price and Service. I found this car company in Chery, in China, and in me."
Bricklin continued, "now I am about to pick 250 of the best dealers in the United States to partner with Visionary Vehicles, Chery and China in this historic enterprise. These dealers must be willing to invest everything necessary to ensure all of our success, and by doing so get to own a piece of everyone's game."
Yin Tongyao, President of Chery Automobile Company said, "The North American automobile market is complex, competitive and always changing. We are looking forward to working with Visionary Vehicles and taking advantage of Malcolm's expertise as we enter it."
"It is a privilege to work with Yin Tongyao, who is talented, determined and one of the great new visionaries on the International scene," said Bricklin.
For this historic project, Bricklin has assembled an extraordinary team of industry experts and key partners:
* AMBASSADOR WILLIAM J. vanden HEUVEL - Chairman of Visionary Vehicles
Management Board
Vice Chairman of the World Federation of United Nations Associations;
U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations; President
of the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute; Senior Advisor to Allen
& Company; and Co-Chairman of the Council of American Ambassadors;
12-year Director of Time Warner
* THE HONORABLE MAURICE STRONG - Chairman of Visionary Vehicles'
Technology and Environmental Advisory Board, will develop a worldwide
team of scientists, technology experts and environmental
professionals.
United Nations Under Secretary General; Chairman of the Earth Council
and the UN University of Peace; Advisor to the President of the World
Bank; Director of World Economic Forum Foundation; Chairman,
Technology Development, Inc.; Chairman of Petro Canada Power
Corporation of Canada and Ontario Hydro; Board of Advisors of Toyota
* ALLEN & COMPANY LLC - Investment Bankers, is acting as financial
advisor to Visionary Vehicles in its corporate activities.
Clients have included Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet), ABC/Capital
Cities, The Coca Cola Company, Disney, News Corporation (Rupert
Murdoch), Interactive Corporation (Barry Diller), Auto Nation and
Universal Studios.
* GLOBE CAPITAL PARTNERS / GALAXACO - International Investment Bankers
and China financial consultants to Visionary Vehicles.
* PER ARNEBERG - Board Member Visionary Vehicles, will coordinate
transportation of Chery vehicles from factory to North
America.
Founder of Peraco Chartering Corporation and Bermuda-based FRAM
Shipping, Ltd. Mr. Arneberg has been involved in joint ventures with
N.Y.K., Japan; WILH. Whilhelmsen, Norway; Sig. Bergesen D.Y.; Lukoil
Oil Co.; Fortum Oil and Gas Oy, Finland.
Transporter of Toyota vehicles from Japan to North America and Yugo
vehicles from Yugoslavia to North America. Has extensive worldwide
operations experience in ship ownership and chartering.
* RON HARBOUR - President of Harbour Consulting of Troy, Michigan.
Harbour has been retained to assess the capability, capacity and
quality performance of the Chery manufacturing facilities in China.
This task will be critical in insuring Chery's ability to deliver
vehicles that can be competitive with current quality standards and in
the volumes necessary to support the demand in North America.
Harbour Consulting has a worldwide reputation for their work with auto
manufacturers and their suppliers in improving quality, cost and
productivity. Harbour is well known for its annual assessment of auto
industry manufacturing performance through The Harbour Report,
involving plants worldwide. Harbour is supported in Asia by their new
office in Bangkok, Thailand.
* PILOT SYSTEMS, LLC - Detroit based Emissions and Safety Certification
Experts, will handle all aspects of safety engineering and
homologation for vehicles entering the U.S. market.
Clients include General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda,
Hyundai, and Yugo.
* JOHN CAVANAGH - Board Member Visionary Vehicles, International
construction expert, will serve as construction coordinator of the 250
Visionary Vehicles dealerships.
Former Vice Chairman of AMEC Construction Management, Inc.; President
and COO of Morse Diesel International, Inc. Well-known projects
include the SEARS Tower, New York Stock Exchange, New York's Museum of
Modern Art, Philip Morris Corporate Headquarters, Mount Sinai Medical
Center, Terminal One and Four of New York's JFK airport.
He has served two terms as President of New York's Building Trades
Employers' Association, Chairman of the Contractors' Association of
Greater New York, on the Board of Directors of the New York Building
Congress, member of the New York Building Department's Site Safety
Committee, is an industry representative of the New York Real Estate
Board, member of the Board of Directors of the regional Alliance for
Small Minority and Women-Owned Contractors, Vice Chairman of the New
York Building Foundation.
* SWANKE, HAYDEN, CONNELL Ltd. - International Architectural Design
Firm, will be designing Visionary Vehicles' revolutionary self-
standing dealer showrooms and accompanying facilities.
Visionary Vehicles and Chery are targeting sales of 250,000 vehicles in its launch year and intend to reach one million units by year five.
More information is available at http://www.vvcars.com/. About Visionary Vehicles
Automotive entrepreneur, Malcolm Bricklin, and his team of experienced professionals established Visionary Vehicles as an international automobile company with the mission to bring an exciting new brand of aggressively priced, beautifully styled, high-quality vehicles into North America.
After searching the globe, Visionary Vehicles discovered the ideal manufacturing partner in Chery Automobile Company (Wuhu, China). Over the past several months, Visionary Vehicles and Chery's management teams have created a dynamic working relationship that brings innovation, a long-term product strategy and "quick response" capabilities to the marketplace to give its brand an incredible competitive advantage.
Visionary Vehicles will also introduce a new retail experience for its consumers and is in the process of creating a revolutionary new design and consumer-friendly environment for the planned self-standing dealer facilities.
About Chery Automobile
Chery Automobile is one of the fastest growing independent auto manufacturers in China.
Its corporate facilities are located in Wuhu, China, in the Anhui Province. Its management team is ambitious and, unlike many of the other Chinese automobile companies and joint ventures, is focusing on the export business. In order to be competitive and quickly capture International market share, Chery is developing, with Visionary Vehicles, a new generation of aggressively priced, world-class vehicles. The designs are being created by different European and Asian international firms including Bertone and Pininfarina of Italy. Luxurious interiors are being created in Japan and new engines are being developed with AVL of Austria.
Chery has large facilities, which include a stamping plant, engine and transmission plant, body & welding plant, modern paint facility and spacious assembly plant. It plans to continue to expand its facilities into other countries, eventually even having manufacturing facilities in the United States.
Chery received its ISO/9001 certification in 2001 and its ISO/TS16949 certification in 2002.
