The Jeep Returns To China
A good old friend is coming back to China: The Jeep. Guangzhou Automobile Group Co (GAC) is expected to produce Chrysler’s Jeep at its Changsha-based joint venture with Fiat, Gasgoo reports.
In July 2009, GAC signed an agreement with Fiat to establish a joint venture in Changsha, capital of south central Hunan province. The negotiations had predated the hectic happenings between Chrysler and Fiat of that time. The original plan was to make Fiat’s 1.4-liter Linea sedan when the plant comes on-line in 2011. Fiat’s prior joint venture with Nanjing Auto had been terminated in late 2007 after heavy losses.
With Chrysler part of Fiat, Chinese production of the Jeep can resume. While still at AMC, the Jeep had been the product of the first Chinese joint venture with a western auto maker. Production started in 1983, a year before Volkswagen started producing the Santana in a joint venture with SAIC in Shanghai. Chrysler had been homeless in China ever since they pulled out of Daimler’s joint venture with BAIC in early 2009. Attempts to import Jeeps and Chryslers to China were met with lukewarm response.
First Jeep to be produced (again) in China will be the Compass.
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Are they going to actually produce the Compass in China, or was the picture an automatic knee-jerk reaction to show Chrysler's worst car and insinuate that that's what's going over there?
Honestly I don't see the bashing against this particular model. I went to a Jeep dealership to see them when it was launched here (for a short time) 2 years ago and it looked ok for me. The polished 17" wheels make it look very nice. And for my requirements (wife, baby and me), it has the perfect size (not bigger than an XJ or 5dr Grand Vitara). I don't like the combo CVT+AWD sold here. I would have preferred Manual+AWD. Bertel, any idea on the projected volumes?
Fiat has such a poor record in China that I am actually worried that they will also mess the Jeep business in that market.
I was not aware that the Cherokee fell out of favor. I still have a video I show my World History students that documents a "race" some Chinese academics staged between smoke seen from the signal towers of the Great Wall, a man on horseback, and a guy in a Cherokee. When the group on one signal tower saw the smoke from the adjacent signal tower they were to light their fires and send the signal down to the next tower. The man in the Jeep and the man on horseback had the same message and were racing down the wall. Smoke beat Jeep and the Jeep barely beat the horse. I don't really see a Compass doing well in that race but I don't know the Chinese market. Is there a market for "soft-roaders" in China?