The Insomniac Coder

Finally got to see one of these out in the open. It is really short, it looks about the size of a classic Mini, a little longer than a Smart microcar . The interior follows the same styling of the BMW Mini (that is, it is fugly). Stylish in a way, but ugly. The back seat is microscopic. That said, it used up about half as much space as a mid-size SUV . In terms of styling, in real life it looks much more like the classic 500, there are some subtle lines that are very hard to appreciate just by looking at photos. For example, from the front it is almost a dead ringer for the original. Related articles Chrysler wants to sell 40,000 cars in China (inautonews.com) Chrysler, the "Imported from Detroit" brand is now officially owned by the Italians, as U.S. Treasury sells its stake to of Fiat (daveibsen.typepad.com) Fiat to buy remaining US stake in Chrysler (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

This is the back seat of a Korean car:   Yes, that car was made in Korea , not in Germany . And it costs less than many domestic SUVs . And it costs less than many German luxury cars that come nowhere in size or features. The only question is if it can deliver the same level of quality.  Do you remember back when Honda was launching Acura and people couldn't believe that there was a market for high end Japanese cars? Honda was right, people were willing to pay more as long as the product was better. Suddenly the Germans, used only to compete against themselves, had now to worry about people buying Acura, Lexus and Infinity cars instead of Mercedes, Audi and BMW . And it gets worse! Ask anyone my age (39) or older and we have very strongly defined brand perceptions that still put Cadillac , and the German brands, above anything else in terms of luxury and performance. Ask people under 30 or so, and that perception is gone because their exposure to cars started after...