Chrysler reportedly is talking with Nissan Motor about expanding their cooperation to jointly producing mid-size cars.
Chrysler and Nissan Motor last April followed up their January announcement of supply of a new car based on Nissan's Versa sedan for Chrysler to sell in South America from 2009 with the unveiling of a further deal that will see Nissan make a new small car in Japan for Chrysler while the Detroit automaker returns the favour with a full-size Mexico-made pickup.
The "fuel-efficient" new segment small car for Chrysler will be sold in North America, Europe and other global markets in 2010, and manufactured at Nissan's Oppama plant in Japan.
Chrysler already builds a version of its smaller Dakota truck for Mitsubishi to sell in North America as the Raider and also makes a top-specification version of its Town and Country minivan for Volkswagen to sell in the US.
A deal with Nissan on midsize sedans would put Chrysler on a path to becoming a marketer and seller of cars made by others - as well as the announced and reported Nissan deals, it also has an agreement under which China's Chery Automobile will make small cars for it.
Chrysler's current mid-size models are the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger whose sales are largely flat year to date vs 2007 in the US, though the Sebring dropped about 36% last month.
These are also exported but have been criticised by UK consumer reviewers for poor interior quality.
