Dodge Hornet will be built by Nissan and will compete with MINI

Chrysler’s vice president has already confirmed that the company is working on a production version of the 2006 Geneva Motor Show Dodge Hornet concept. No other details were given out at the time but industry sources now say that the production version of the Hornet concept will be built by Nissan for Chrysler under their new cooperation terms.

According to sources at AutoWeek, the Dodge Hornet will be an upscale small car designed to compete with the likes of MINI’s Cooper. Chrysler is also working on another small car that it will build with Chery Automobile Co. for budget buyers.

Earlier in April, the Nissan and Chrysler announced that they will cooperate on building a pickup and a subcompact car for each other. Chrysler will build the next-generation Nissan Titan at its Saltillo, Mexico plant. Nissan will begin production of a subcompact car based on the Versa at its Oppama, Japan, factory.

We’re just hoping that they’ll drop the “Hornet” name for the production versions since it doesn’t sound very ‘upscale’ to us.

Source: AutoWeek