Chrysler's much ballyhooed deal with China's Chery Motors to build small cars hasn't yielded much of value for the Auburn Hills manufacturer yet. Chrysler offers a Dodge-branded version of the Chery A1 in South America, but no new cars have emerged yet. It looks like Chrysler may now be working with a new Chinese partner to build an A-segment car. Great Wall has been better known up to now for building cars with a startling resemblance to models from other manufacturers, such as the first generation Scion xA and xB. Chrysler staff are reportedly working with Great Wall to produce a micro car for Chrysler to be sold world-wide. Fans of the original xB probably shouldn't get their hopes up though. Selling this model outside of China probably wouldn't sit well with Toyota.

[Source: China Car Times]

The General, along with the rest of the American automakers, has a long established history of making the most profits from the largest vehicles. Small cars from the Detroit 3 have therefore fallen way behind the imports when it comes to desirability. GM Global Design Chief Ed Welburn went so far as to say, "In North America, we never did a good small car." Ouch. Instead, all the best designs come from overseas, which GM has plenty of experience in. "Today, we are able to draw on resources of design centers in Korea, Brazil and Europe who really know how to do small cars," says Welburn. Like the ones who designed the Aveo?

So, if the Cobalt and Aveo are not good small cars, at least they'd better be cheap, right? Sure, but expect that to change too as upcoming replacements for its aging small cars will be more expensive than current models. The Chevrolet Cruze, not expected in the U.S. for at least a few more years, will cost an extra few thousand dollars compared to the Cobalt. Hopefully by then, the Beat will be properly engineered for the American market as well.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 MINI Cooper Clubman

Does good fuel mileage necessarily equal poor performance? Must low emission regulations put an end to driving enjoyment? No, of course not. The days of fuel-sipping penalty boxes are long gone, as even today's crop of hybrid vehicles can be fun to drive if you just love the act of eking every mile out of each drop of fuel. But, what about real options for the enthusiast who would rather sacrifice a few miles per gallon in the name of driving fun? AutoWeek put together a list of four cylinder vehicles which return decent fuel mileage numbers and can be bought for a reasonable sum.

The top few picks from the weekly mag aren't going to win any mpg awards, but nobody is going to argue with the performance credentials of the Subaru WRX STi, Mitsubishi Evolution, Mazdaspeed 3 or Caliber SRT-4. The Chevrolet Cobalt SS manages to attain EPA figures of 22 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway. Its 2.0 liter turbocharged Ecotec engine is a sweetheart, too. Moving down the list, we see the Mini Cooper return even better figures at 28 city and 37 highway. We've driven the Cooper and the Clubman, and you can bet they are fun to drive. Click here to read the full list of fun, frugal four-bangers.

[Source: AutoWeek]

click the Toyota iQ for high res gallery

With the rather healthy sales numbers currently being posted by the smart fortwo in the U.S., Toyota seems very excited about the prospect of offering its iQ here. Still, the tiny car will be launched first in Japan, followed by Europe at the beginning of next year. High gas prices seem likely to sway Toyota to consider the diminutive machine for America, though. According to chief engineer Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota's iQ could be a bit higher than smart's, as the Japanese model will feature two extra seats and should post better fuel economy numbers. Like the smart, though, it will be priced more in line with the current crop of small cars and is not meant to undercut them in price. Instead, the iQ is to offer a premium driving experience.

In Europe, the iQ will be offered with a 1.4 liter diesel engine. If the model ever makes it over here, count on either the 1.0 or 1.3 liter gasoline engine underhood. If that does indeed happen, will we ever get tired of making ridiculous puns about the iQ and smart names? Nah.


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

Starting February, small cars will be exempt from the London congestion charge, a priviledge currently only accorded to electric, biofuel and hybrids. A study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research commissioned by Land Rover found this could result in more cars (up to 10,000 more) entering London and increased pollution in the city. You see, sales of small cars in the UK are increasing (up a third the last nine months) as people try to find ways to save the roughly £2,000 a year (£25 a day) it will cost to enter congestion zones. A Transport for London spokesman reminded everyone "one of the main aims behind the proposals is to encourage people to consider the effect of their car on the environment and to choose less-polluting vehicles." Dah!

[Source: This is London]

The Wall Street Journal just wrote an article asking if coupes are making a come back. Coupes are small, two seat cars (sometimes 2+2). Over the summer, the Journal told us that the last 12 months made up the "year of the crossover." Crossover vehicles are an SUV's body styling on a car frame. Today, I read in the USA Today, car makers are putting cars on a diet, using lighter materials for example. In a recent interview, GM exec Gary White reminisces on the good ol' days of SUVs. Gary said "it was a wild ride there for a while. It was pretty amazing."

What's going on here? Is the SUV dead? Can Americans even fit into small cars?

[Source: Kicking Tires]

The topic of cheap cars has come up on our pages before, and John McElroy has shared his thoughts on the topic over at Autoblog. It looks like John will be contributing over at our sister site on a somewhat regular basis, this is his first posting. McElroy is the host of Autoline Detroit which you may have seen on Speed TV or public television (make sure to watch it tomorrow). On the topic of inexpensive cars, John brings up the Dacia Logan, which is now part of Renault's stable. This car is just about the cheapest set of (four) wheels you can get in Europe, and McElroy highlights the fact that the car is selling rather well. This is causing the other manufacturers to look into offering similar vehicles in their own lineups.

The next point brought up is the possibility of even cheaper cars from companies like Tata from India. As McElroy points out, this type of vehicle is unlikely in the U.S. due to the fact that the emissions equipment alone on cars sold here might cost as much as the vehicles themselves in other area. Additionally, safety standards would likely impede inexpensive cars from making inroads on American roads.

Although the idea of an inexpensive new car that even low-income households could afford is certainly one with merit, if the vehicle is not capable of being safe and clean, it probably should not be sold. The argument could be made though that if the new car, even if not up to snuff with other new cars were cleaner than a five-year-old used car it could still be an eco-benefit. Sounds like a very fine line that would need to be walked, but if companies like Continental or Borg-Warner help with cheaper emissions and safety equipment, who knows what may come of it.

[Source: John McElroy / Autoblog]

Click on the photo for a high-res gallery of the Mazda2

Ford has only sold small B-Class cars in the US market sporadically over the past thirty years. They sold the European Fiesta in the early eighties and the Kia-built Festiva and Aspire in the early nineties. Making money on those cars has always been difficult because they are not much cheaper to build than a larger car, but Americans in particular have been unwilling to pay more than bargain prices for them.

More recently MINI has demonstrated that small cars can fetch high enough prices to make money by being stylish and well equipped. Ford is now developing a new global small car platform that will be used by various Ford brands and will be coming to the US market. First shown at this years Geneva Motor Show in Mazda2 guise, the new platform will also be the basis of the new Fiesta and a car for the American market, although the name is unknown.

Ford has apparently taken the MINI lesson and is focusing on making the new cars more attractive and better equipped. By keeping costs under control and using the kinetic design language from the Iosis concept and new Mondeo they hope that the new small car can contribute to their revival.



[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]

Click on the photo for a gallery of high-res images of the new Mazda2

Ford has already confirmed that the US lineup will be getting a new car smaller than the Focus sometime within the next twenty-four months, and that car will based on the platform of the new Mazda2 that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The next version of the Fiesta that is sold in Europe and elsewhere will also come off this platform. What has now been confirmed by Ford is that they have consolidated all the B-Car development teams into a single global team based out of Ford of Europe. The team will be responsible for developing all the variants to meeting global regulations but at the same time meet local requirements for equipment and styling.



[Source: Automotive News - subscription required]

I met a guy at the Motor Trend Community Forum who recently took a trip to Rome. While he was there, he took many pictures, and many of them were in an attempt to find the smallest cars in Rome that people actually drive. Look at the Gallery, you will see some classics like the Fiat 500, and some not-so-classics... like, well, I have no idea what some of them are. But, they certainly are small, and I bet they get some good mileage with them.

You will also see how the Romans park -- and you thought your downtown area was bad! This is what the Smart was designed for. You will also see scooters all over the place. After all, Piaggio, Vespa, Lambretta and others were or are based in Italy.

Thanks to RMcG for the use of his photos!

Automotive News publisher Keith Crain has a column up today telling the US car-makers to start working on small cars now. Mr. Crain doesn't go nearly far enough. The fact that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler don't have competitive B-class cars in the US market today is totally inexcusable. They have more than enough engineering resources to create really good small cars. They have been doing it in overseas markets for many years. General Motors has the Opel Corsa, Ford has the Fiesta and Ka, Chrysler has through DCX has the Smart and Mercedes A- and B-class.

These manufacturers should not need to go looking for overseas partners to work with, the way Chrysler is trying to cut a deal with a Chinese car maker right now to build the Hornet. The cars exist today. They should have been able to foresee that gas prices were eventually go to go up and they should have been ready to sell some small cars here. Clearly, European built small cars wouldn't be price competitive in North America. However, since 2001, they should have been able to find a lower cost manufacturing location. If Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia, and others can sell cars like the Fit, Yaris and others here there is no reason that Ford and GM can't.

GM already sells variants of the Corsa in Mexico, the most recent versions should have been engineered to meet US requirements as well. Instead they won't be available in the United States until at least 2010. Instead the closest vehicle that they have is the Daewoo built Chevy Aveo. Similarly, Ford should have had at least the Fiesta and probably the Ka on sale here by now. The funky looking Ka would be a good competitor for cars like the Scions and the Mini. In fact, properly equipped, the Ka should be able to sold as a premium small model against the Mini and might even make money for Ford. As for Chrysler, why can't they design small car on their own? Why do they have to rely on Mitsubishi or some Chinese company to build a car?

Instead of working up sixteen variations of every SUV and truck they need to re-assign large numbers of engineers now! If you have a subscription to Automotive News you can click on Read for Keith Crain's column.

File under: damn, that was fast.

According to two online car buying research sites – Cars.com and CarMax – consumer searches for larger vehicles (trucks and SUVs) rose in September. National average for gas prices have dropped from over $3 a gallon in August to around $2.30 a gallon today, according to the Energy Information Administration and that's all it took for car buyers to change their habits. Fickle shoppers.

Over at Cars.com, fuel-sippers like the Prius, Yaris and Insight topped the list of vehicles with the largest decline in search volume over the past month, while Cars.com users increased their searches for gas-hogs like the Hummer H2 and H3, Cadillac Escalade and BMW X5. At CarMax, small cars remained popular searches in September, but vehicles like the Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford F150, and Ford Expedition, all got more searches in September than August, said Tom Folliard, president and chief executive officer of CarMax.

[Source: Cars.com and CarMax, Inc]

There are many reasons why small, fuel-efficient cars often sold poorly in the US market from the mid 1980s until relatively recently. Cheap gas was certainly one very important reason. Once the memory of the last energy crisis of the 1979-80 period faded, there just wasn't much of an incentive to drive fuel-efficient cars.

The other problem is that domestic cars in the small car category just weren't very attractive to customers. Small cars from the domestic manufacturers have always had a reputation for being cheap, usually not in a good way. They have generally had hard plastic interior panels, often with visible parting lines from the molds. Switchgear often has stiff operation again with poor feel. Mechanically, these cars have regularly had components a generation or more behind their counterparts from foreign based brands. Even more annoying is that the comparably sized cars from the same car-makers, over-seas operations have been built to a much higher standard than the domestic models. The difference between a late 1990s Chevrolet Cavalier and a comparable Opel Astra is like night and day.

There's more after the jump.

The Case family, on their recent trip to the UK, had a chance to check out some European cars which, unlike in the U.S., "small" was not synonymous with "economical" and "cheap".

Loyd Case discovered the Mercedes-Benz A190, a four-door hatchback which is the first Benz said he's ever fallen in love with. The family also viewed the Audi A2 (pictured) and four-door versions of the SMART cars (two-door versions of which will be arriving in the U.S. in the next few years). The Cases, whose experiences with diesel vehicles have been less than favorable in the U.S., found not a trace of blue smoke from their diesel-powered Ford minivan.

After reading the Cases' experience, would you buy a small car with similar luxury and functionality? Or are American cars still your first choice?

[Source: Extreme Tech]