In recent years, Chinese automakers have been attempting to branch out past the Chinese market. One of the easiest ways to do this would be purchasing a company already rooted deep in the American market. Hostility in the US towards Chinese deals is growing, but that didn’t stop Chinese automaker, Great Wall Motor Company, from expressing interest in purchasing the Jeep brand.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the company that owners the Jeep brand, said they have “not been approached by Great Wall Motors in connection with the Jeep brand, or any other matter relating to its business.”

Why is FCA Trying to Sell Jeep

Steep Chinese tariffs have made vehicles like Jeeps cost nearly twice as much in China as they do in the US. This has opened the door for Chinese automakers to dominate the Chinese market without too much competition from any outside companies.

If you look at FCAs numbers and their yearly revenue, you might be wondering why they even want to sell Jeep. The Jeep brand accounts for an estimated 40 percent or more of FCA’s yearly profits. It would seem counterintuitive to sell the brand that makes them the most money. FCA doesn’t make as much profit as some of its global rivals and they have quite a lot of debt. Really FCA isn’t trying to sell just Jeep, they’re trying to sell the whole brand with possible acceptions of Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

Basically, FCA is falling behind and they’re looking for another company to give them a hand. If they were to sell off Jeep by itself they would put a massive dent in their yearly profits, but they would also be able to put a big dent in their debt. Luckily, FCA recognizes that selling just Jeep could be a very bad idea which is why they are trying to sell the whole company, not just the most profitable part of it.

Who is Going to Buy a Chinese Jeep?

Jeep is a brand deeply rooted in American society. It’s arguably part of the reason we won the second world war. It’s simply an American icon. Even with though Jeep is under FCA which is an Italian company, people still view it as an American icon.

The problem here is that Americans have a perception that all Chinese products are low quality, knock off versions of other products. This perception is actually accurate to some extent, but some very high-quality products come out of China. Non-the-less, that negative view towards Chinese products would put Jeep in a very weird spot if they were sold to a Chinese company.

Who would want an all American icon to be produced by a Chinese company? Everyone would think the new Chinese Jeeps would have terrible quality and basically be a piece of junk. The average consumer may not be bothered by the idea of a Chinese Jeep, but Jeeps fan base would likely be extremely upset with this idea. Fortunately, FCA is unlikely to sell Jeep to a company based in China, unless Great Wall Motors is willing to pay a very high price.