It’s hard to overestimate the thirst of the American auto market for sexy, sporty, small roadsters – while sales of the Pontiac Solstice may be slowing down, the Saturn Sky is taking off, and the Mazda Miata MX-5 is holding more or less steady as it has for nearly two decades. Not surprisingly, Chrysler is keen to get its own piece of the pie and has already shown us what’s possible with last year’s Dodge Demon concept. The only problem is that, financially, things are looking a little worse for wear.

There is hope on the horizon but it will come at a cost. According to AutoWeek, Chrysler could call on its Chinese partner Chery to supply a low-cost FWD platform for the car. Chrysler would essentially engineer its own design on top of the Chery platform.

"A small sports car is still on our wish list and in the product plan," Chrysler's Tom LaSorda told reporters today at the Detroit Auto Show. "The Demon is a B-segment size car and it would be on the new B-segment platform from China."Cost isn’t the only reason for using the WD platform. Emissions regulations is another issue, LaSorda explained.