Chrysler and Chery Automobile have terminated a co-operation agreement to produce small cars in China for export, dealing a blow to one of the US company's highest-profile overseas projects.
The smallest of Detroit's three loss-making carmakers said late on Monday that the decision was made in reaction to the global economic slowdown.
The Chinese carmaker and Chrysler signed an agreement in July 2007 to produce cars jointly at Chery's plant with the intention of exporting them initially to South America, then later to North America and western Europe. But plans to export the cars were repeatedly delayed as Chery and Chrysler struggled to bring the cars' safety and environmental performance up to western standards.