La political and social instability that the world is going through can be seen in almost all industries. The automobile sector is no stranger, because like it or not it is one of the first to be affected when there are problems. The crisis derived from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has put an end to companies as solid as Renault in the Eurasian country. But this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are countries that have still aligned with them.
China is one of the powers that wants to dominate the international scene and hence friction arises. The automobile sector is one of those that suffers from these tug-of-wars and Western firms are finding it increasingly difficult to sell cars. In addition to the fact that local firms have almost surpassed them, especially in electrification. Hence Stellantis has decided to step forward to allow Jeep to cut ties with GAC.
The association of Jeep and GAC is broken by the interference of the local government in its operations...
You may not know but GAC is one of the remaining automakers with state capital. This is the company known as Guangzhou Automobile Group and that in these twelve years has manufactured models such as the Grand Commander. However, the top managers of Stellantis have noticed that GAC's involvement in their "business" was decreasing over time. Both, and that before the merger FCA and PSA already sighted it.
So, fearing an international sanctions ball or worse, Jeep has preferred to cut all relations they had with GAC. In addition, they have also terminated local production, although at the moment there is no defined date for the closure of the plant. In this case, to prevent his image from being damaged and customers leaving, he would have made a different decision. Send their electric models to the country, although from other centers.
As Carlos Tavares, the head of Stellantis, explained to Bloomberg, they were going to increase the shareholding percentage of their joint venture. The Italian-Gallo-American group would take over 75% of the capital and GAC took a step back to keep the remaining 25%. However, they "didn't do what they had to do" and therefore they stepped aside to "relax." Furthermore, he adds that the situation in China is not so stable.
Meanwhile the heads of GAC have complained about Tavares' words. Thanks to the guys at Automotive News we have learned that the Chinese firm "accuses the European company of disrespecting customers in the world's largest automotive market." We still don't know what the final result will be, but what Jeep does not want accounts with its Chinese partners It's obvious, although we'll see what they do...
Source - Bloomberg - Automotive News
More information about this model
- Plazas 5
- Power 272 - 380 hp
- Consumer goods 3,5 - 11l/100km
- Assessment 4,5