China has a flourishing domestic auto industry but the quality of Chinese cars simply is not yet at world levels. The latest sign of that came this week when Malcolm Bricklin, the man who brought the Yugo and Subaru to U.S. showrooms, announced a “new strategic direction.”

In short, Bricklin has dropped his plan to bring up to 250,000 autos built by Chery Automobile Co. to U.S. shores a year. Read more here.

Chery is one of China’s fastest-growing automakers.

The press release from Bricklin’s Visionary Vehicles was short, saying it had ended a joint venture with Chery to build cars for export to the U.S.

“We have great respect and admiration for President Yin Tongyao and Chery, but we are no longer negotiating exclusively with them,” the release quoted Bricklin as saying.

Bricklin blamed the Chinese for the breakdown in his strategy.

“The crux of our decision came from the realization that the Chinese need to learn that you can not develop cars for the Chinese domestic market and then upgrade them for the North American Market,” Bricklin said. “You must instead, build for the North American market and then de-option for other markets, never having two standards for quality since great quality is the only option.”

Bricklin may be striking out but Chinese-made cars are already on sale in Europe, and it won’t be long before the arrive in the United States. Looks like Chery still wants to sell in America.