FCA’s crown may hawk its proudest jewel.
Amongst the Chinese suitors sizing-up Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles for acquisition, it appears that Great Wall Motors is coming up trumps, though its plans don’t strictly concern the conglomerate as a whole. Great Wall (which, for the sake of simplicity we’ll refer to as ‘GWM’), which has always had aspirations of breaking into the North American market and aims to be the biggest SUV manufacturer in the world, is keeping an eye trained on Jeep.
Wang Fengying, president of GWM, has clarified in a statement to Automotive News that they have “connected with FCA” to discuss the matter, and while officials from both sides have visited offices in China and the US, a formal offer has yet to be tabled. Expanding further on this, GWM spokesperson Xu Hui said:
“We are deeply interested in the Jeep brand, and have paid close attention to it for a long time. Our strategic goal is to become the world’s largest SUV maker. Acquiring Jeep, a global SUV brand, would enable us to achieve our goal sooner and better.” — Xu Hui, Great Wall Motor Company
GWM’s success with its Haval brand, relaunching in several of its key markets with positive reception, is part of the reason why the company is focusing heavily on high-riding family wagons to push itself into the future. The sizing-up of Jeep is also in line with the Chinese administration, which has been leaning hard on its automotive players to make acquisitions abroad.
It wouldn’t be outside the realm of reason that GWM imagines its takeover of Jeep would play out similarly to what’s happened to Volvo following its acquisition by the larger, more influential Geely. Should that be the case, it could be assumed that Jeep’s management would be retained and its projects largely unaltered, as GWM would give the company nearly full autonomy to embrace and capitalise on its American roots.
The Chinese company’s intent to gain traction in North America could be best seen in the R&D facility the company has set up in Detroit, despite currently selling no cars in the Americas. That said, the acquisition of Jeep would allow GWM a faster, more efficient way into the market, given that the Jeep brand doesn’t require the same effort to reinvent itself to gain marketshare, the way companies like Jaguar-Land Rover, and even Volvo had to undergo to make significant gains with their cars.
With a takeover touted to come in to the tune of some US$33.5-billion (or around $42.2-billion), Jeep is valued at more than FCA is as a whole (with Jeep included). While that’s no bargain now, FCA boss Sergio Marchionne has said before of Jeep that “if there is one brand out there that has the right to claim the ability to have 20% of the global market belong to it, it’s Jeep.”
Update: FCA has since clarified in a statement that it is not holding talks with Great Wall Motors with regards to any apsect of its business, be it Jeep or otherwise. We get the sense that something is brewing...
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more information as it comes.
