It looks like China will not be selling cars in the U.S. anytime soon. Only a few years ago it looked like the world’s hottest car market was set for a full-scale invasion on the world’s largest car market. Now it seems like doing business in the U.S. is more difficult that first imagined. According to Automotive News, “Enthusiasm for Chinese vehicles was created mainly by hype from American promoters and wishful thinking from small Chinese auto-makers that were unaware of the difficulties of selling cars in the United States.”

Back in 2007, Chrysler revealed a plan that included China’s Chery building small cars to be sold under Chrysler’s name in the U.S. At the announcement, the target date was 2009, but Chrysler is now saying that is not going to be ready until at least 2011. "We need small cars," LaSorda said in May. "Chery's cars are still not ready for that exposure into these markets." He said China-built cars probably won't be ready to meet U.S. safety and emissions standards for "three years or more."

Other announced projects have also seemed to have died quietly. Nanjing Automobile Group (NAG) once announced plans to build MG roadsters in Okalahoma, but nothing has been heard about this since Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. bought NAG. In 2006, Geely Automobile Group announced it wanted to sell in the U.S. by this year, but has since backed away.

Although China has backed away from the U.S., that does not mean they have backed away from all of North America. Chery will still sell a Chrysler-badged car called the A1 in Mexico. Another major Chinese automaker, FAW, should have a plant in Mexico ready by 2010 to sell small cars to Mexico and Central America.

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