As we reported the other day, Chrysler is working as hard as possible to get its gas-guzzling fleet more in line with consumer desires. These days, that means fuel efficiency, so it comes as little surprise that Dodge is renewing its efforts to get the Hornet small car up and running. Up until this point, it had been assumed that the Chrysler joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery would produce the Hornet, but it seems that the Chinese company may not be quite ready for prime time. Instead, Chrysler's recent tie-up with Nissan is now expected to result in the new Dodge vehicle.

Chrysler still has plans to introduce a budget line of vehicles with its Chinese counterpart. Dodge's upcoming Hornet, though, will not be an entry level model at all. The Hornet is expected to compete with upper level small cars such as the Mini, which has seen excellent sales as of late due to its fuel efficiency.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

Late this afternoon Chrysler and Nissan announced a major product cooperation deal that would allow both automakers to focus on their current product strengths while expanding their lineups with new entries. Beginning in 2010 Nissan will start making a new small car for Chrysler while a year later, Chrysler will start building a new full-size pickup truck for Nissan. The small car will be built to a Chrysler design and will be sold in North America, Europe, and other markets. The truck will be built for Nissan at Chrysler's Saltillo Mexico assembly plant starting 2011 and will presumably replace the current Titan pickup.

Nissan has been looking for a diesel engine supplier for some time for the Titan and this deal will likely allow them to use the new Cummins light duty diesel that is debuting next year. It's not known at this time if Nissan will get a heavy duty pickup out this deal. Another unknown is whether Nissan will get a truck equipped with the two-mode hybrid system that is debuting in the Ram in 2010. Chrysler and Nissan earlier this year announced a deal to sell a re-badged version of the Versa as a Dodge in South America. Another unknown is the fate of the Chrysler-Chery deal to build small cars in China. We'll have more later this evening after a Chrysler conference call.

Update 1: According to LaSorda the Chery discussions and planning are still ongoing and products may still happen badged as Chrysler vehicles. Chrysler feels that at some point they may need more than one small car so potentially both Chery and Nissan based cars could be sold.

Update 2: The small car will be built on a Nissan platform with Chrysler styling. The platform is a new platform but Chrysler isn't yet saying what platform it is. It's not the current Versa.

Update 3: No news on the diesels or hybrids. Unfortunately they cut off questions before we had a chance to ask. We'll try to follow up on this one.

[Source: Chrysler, Nissan]