Coming to America: GAC Group to rename its Trumpchi SUV for export to the US as soon as trade war with China ends

GAC Group, China’s fifth-largest carmaker, said it would revive a plan to export vehicles to the US once the trade war ends

GAC, which launched the Trumpchi SUV in 2010, will rename the marque on the recommendation of US dealers, its chairman said

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GAC Motor’s area during the North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan on January 13, 201. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 8:04am, 10 Mar 2019Updated: 2:27pm, 10 Mar 2019

GAC Group, China’s fifth-largest carmaker by sales, said it would revive its plan to sell vehicles to the United States once the trade war between the countries is over, as it looks for a new market to counter declining sales at home.

The maker of the Trumpchi mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV) is proceeding with hiring dealers and recruiting talent in preparation to start selling in the US, said the Guangzhou-based carmaker’s chairman Zeng Qinghong, during an interview in Beijing. The carmaker said in January that it would delay its US plan to the first half of 2020 from this year, because of the trade war.

“Whenever the US cancels its tariffs [on Chinese exports] and normalises its trade policies, we will consider doing it,” said Zeng, a delegate to China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), as the legislature is called. “We are still pushing forward and waiting for the policies to change.”

Zeng’s comment underscores how a hint of optimism has returned to Chinese exporters, amid signs that a deal to resolve the year-long trade war may be at work. The legislature is expected to vote on a new law next week that its backers say will level the playing field for foreign investors, as Beijing tries to fend off complaints from Washington and Brussels about unfair trade practices.

Infographics: Global carmakers and their Chinese venture partners

China’s 2018 car sales declined, the first annual drop in almost three decades, as an economic slowdown due in part to the trade war crimped consumption in a nation that had just overtaken the US in 2009 as the world’s biggest automotive market.