Japan was a curious rival of the United States, having gone from a military foe to one of America’s biggest suppliers of electronics, cars, and other goods in rather short time. If you read sci-fi from the ’80s, there was also a fear of a strong political role that Japan would play globally. That didn’t quite happen, and once the bubble burst in Japan the greater influence was probably a cultural one than a political one; few people still alive feel negatively about buying a Japanese car.
China is different. There has been no large scale military conflict between the US and China, but both militaries clearly see the other side as the most feared antagonist in a global conflict. Americans buy an enormous amount of goods from China, but few of these are recognizably Chinese-branded. I’m sure plenty of people bought a TCL television without realizing the company was headquartered in Guangdong. China has become the world’s manufacturer, and, for years, you could buy a Chinese-built car in most of Europe and the US.
A Chinese-branded one is a little different, and it’s interesting to see who is building what. When I write The Morning Dump I don’t often lead with a question, because I want to help find answers. Today will be a little different, too, because I am a little curious. Jeep is one of the most quintessential American brands and, soon, will start building cars in China. Will this bother anyone? Canada will be an interesting test case for Chinese cars, and it sounds like automakers with non-obvious Chinese owners, like Lotus, will lead the way. Everything is politics, and the President of the United States has weighed in on right-to-repair on the side of consumers.
That’s heavy. Let’s end light. It’s a Lacoste Alpine!
Jeep Will Build An Electric Car In China
China has built Jeeps before. Back in the ’80s, then-Jeep parent AMC made a deal with the Beijing Automotive Industry Company to form what became known as Beijing Jeep. The trick to that, of course, was that they weren’t branded Jeep, even though they were obviously XJs. And, of course, the current Chinese car industry builds plenty of Jeep-like things as well.
What hasn’t happened before, I don’t think, is a Jeep-branded, Chinese-built Jeep sold in a Western market. With Stellantis expanding its deal with Chinese automaker Dongfeng, that’s what’s apparently going to happen. Here’s how Bloomberg describes the vehicle:
Stellantis and Dongfeng Motor Corp. will jointly produce the large sport utility vehicle, which will be launched alongside other new models carrying the iconic name, Fabio Catone, head of Jeep in Europe, said on a media call. Stellantis will have six Jeep models available in the region by the end of the decade, compared with two now, he said.
That’s interesting. It’ll apparently be a D-Segment midsize SUV and, presumably, some sort of New Energy Vehicle (full electric or EREV). There’s a little more intel from the Australian site Car Expert has a few more details:
In a statement released over the weekend, the automakers announced the existing Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroen joint venture plant in Wuhan will produce two “Peugeot-branded” models from 2027. The design of these two vehicles will be based on the Concept 6 and Concept 8 SUV revealed at the recent Beijing motor show.
Both concept cars are on the large side, and if exported back to Europe would help the brand flesh out the top-end of its lineup, which currently tops out with the 4.79m-long 5008 SUV.
This vehicle will join the Recon and Compass in Europe, and shows that Stellantis still sees the brand as a player on the continent. Addressing the potential issue of having a Chinese-built Jeep, European brand head Fabio Catone didn’t seem worried, as Bloomberg reported:
“Jeep is a US brand, certainly, but it’s also a global one.”
I remember when Jeep started selling the Italian-built Renegade in the United States. There was a concern that people wouldn’t want it. To quote Dennis Nedry: See, nobody cares.
The Canadian PM Making Deals To Get Chinese-Build Lotus SUVs Is Amusing To Me
The Lotus Eletre is a curious vehicle and, surprisingly, has been in the middle of the push-and-pull of global trade. It’s been expected that Lotus will sell the Eletre in Canada under a new rule allowing in a quota of Chinese-built cars, and they even gave Thomas one to review.
Now, we have more details via Reuters on how it all came together:
“Geely Holding Group’s Lotus brand electric vehicles will arrive in Canada next month under an agreement between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping, China’s ambassador to Canada Wang Di told Reuters on Friday.
They will be the first Chinese-owned and manufactured vehicles for sale under an agreement that allows up to 49,000 Chinese EVs to enter Canada annually at a reduced tariff rate, as Carney tries to diversify Canada’s trade away from the United States.
“Geely EVs will be arriving in Canada next month and they will be holding a ceremony when the cars are delivered in Montreal,” Wang said.
Eventually, Chinese-built cars that are not branded as other vehicles will arrive in Canada, but it’s interesting to see that even in Canada they’re starting with cover-brands.
President Trump Says It’s Ok For People To Repair Cars
President Trump surprised automakers when he said that they told him it wasn’t ok for people to repair their own cars:
“We had the auto industry in yesterday. They don’t want people to fix their car. I said, ‘That’s strange!’” Trump said. “They have a thing; nobody’s allowed to fix their car.”
In response to this, President Trump signed a memo indicated support for people to be able to repair their own cars, which is generally a good thing, though this one seems to be mostly limited to emissions equipment:
During the previous administration, crushing environmental regulatory burdens caused the average cost of vehicles to soar. My Administration has therefore taken historic action to reduce or remove these burdensome regulations and decrease the rising costs that consumers face. With the largest deregulatory action in United States history, my Administration rescinded regulations concerning greenhouse gas emissions for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, and affirmed the right to fix agricultural and non-road equipment.
Consumers and aftermarket-parts manufacturers and resellers, however, face continuing regulatory uncertainty concerning whether aftermarket parts may be used in repairs due to the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) prohibition on tampering with emissions controls. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has the only certification process for aftermarket parts currently recognized as sufficient under the CAA, but that process is faulty. Obtaining a CARB Executive Order certifying that a part does not increase vehicle emissions takes increasingly long — now well over a year — even when an applicant has all of the paperwork and testing in order. It is increasingly costly, and it effectively hands the determination of Federal compliance over to the State of California. Further, because it is the only currently available and accepted certification process, the certification of parts is bottlenecked at CARB, driving up costs and limiting the supply of compliant parts. To further ensure vehicle affordability, it is the policy of my Administration that consumers should be able to fix their vehicles with affordable parts without being deemed to have circumvented emissions controls.
It’s time to diesel swap one of David’s Jeeps, I suppose. [Ed Note: I’m pro-us being able to fix our own cars. I am also not a huge fan of the complications associated with California’s strict emissions standards, particularly for older cars. But I do like emissions standards in general, as I want my son to grow up with healthy lungs. So some level of balance here is the answer; it’s not “you can’t fix your car” and it’s not “you have to fix your car 1980s car that you rarely drive with these expensive parts or else.” It’s somewhere in between. -DT].
Check Out This Sweet Lacoste Alpine
Ok, that’s a lot this morning, please enjoy this one-off Alpine A290 RALLYE done up with a Lacoste theme. I love it. They even shot a video:
That’s fun.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
We’re going to Lime Rock, so I’ve got to play some Hall & Oates. Are you out of time, or just “Out of Touch”?
The Big Question
Where was your car built and do you care where cars are built?
Top photo:
“Cummins swapped Prius rolls coal on Model X”
Future headline as a result of the right to do an emissions delete on any vehicle.
I know I shouldn’t, but I would actually like to see that,
We should all care. If you live in the US, then yeah, you should at least try to support local jobs in manufacturing.
The fact that some might find this statement strange is absolutely bonkers.
I regret to say the two worst cars I’ve owned, from a constantly-trying-to-fall-apart perspective, were built in Trollhattan, Sweden.
Two Saab 9-5s, two streams of FCP Euro parts arriving regularly at my door.
Also! Hot dang, turns out my 2nd gen Prius was built in a city named Toyota. That’s right, Toyota builds Toyotas in the city of Toyota, Japan.
You say the Chinese-built Jeeps will be sold in ‘western markets’ but one can presume (?) that those markets do NOT include the United States, right? Given the 100% tarrif in place on Chinese-built EVs in America?
Or does Stelantis expect to get a limited wavier from the current administration that will allow them to sell these Chinese-built (and surely internet-connected) new cars here, maybe provided the user data goes to a US-based server or something, as happened with TikTok in the US.
Not that I expect anything Jeep makes to be something I’d want to buy these days anyway.
I’ve got three these days.
Er, I mean US, US, and Japan.
I’ve owned cars built in: Australia (both GM products), Japan (Toyotas, a Mitsubishi, a Mazda), South Korea (a Kia), Germany (a classic Mercedes, from when they really WERE the pinnacle of quality) and now, China (an electric MG).
I know I’ll ruffle a few feathers here. Hands down, the worst build quality and reliability I experienced was with… both my Australian built Holdens. The one I owned from new was the worst. Though I loved them when they were working and felt fondly about them in a way that I’m sure Americans feel about their domestic cars, objectively they were poorly built, unreliable shitboxes.
The best build quality? In my experience, Japanese and Korean cars from the last ten years are on par and the Chinese buzz box is not that far behind. The Merc is in a different league in terms of beautiful chrome and MB Tex upholstery that still looks fine after 50 years, but is literally from a different century in terms of refinement… and (un)reliability.
I was adamant I’d never buy a Chinese vehicle. Now though, that we have no domestic car industry to protect… if it helps us electrify quicker and rely less on imported fuel (and it seems to be) – let it rip, I say!
My car was built in Finland (Valmet, specifically), and I care more about the reputation of the assembly plant than its location, though there is often correlation between the two. Finnish Boxsters are said to have thicker paint than German ones, which I appreciate in a daily driver, but also might not be any better/stronger.
I didn’t care enough to check where it was built before buying it, but I did care enough to look it up after the fact and be pleased with the knowledge that it shared production with Saabs.
Maybe my next purchase I’ll see if my car has multiple manufacturing locations with different reputations, but I don’t think that’ll matter much as I only buy cars that are old enough to have proven their unreliability, and if manufacturing plant variation matters, I’ll find out in my months of compulsive-obsessive pre-purchase research.
TBQ
Touareg: Slovaki
Countryman: Netherlands
Outback: Indiana
All of these locations seem acceptable. However, PRC would probably be a deal killer. Kind of like a screen to open the glovebox.
Lemme see:
US (some POS Chevy S-10)
Germany (Munich)
Germany (Munich)
Germany (Dingolfing)
Turkey
Japan
Japan
Germany (Neckarslum)
US (SC)
I don’t care much for manufacturing unions one way or another.
My car is Swedish, built in Japan, sold in the US.
A Saabaru?
Indeed good sir, indeed. 2006 92X Aero.
Interesting that they are shipping Chinese cars into Canada through the port of Montreal. I’d imagine a B.C. port would be much more efficient. Perhaps they plan to ‘test market’ in Quebec first. They have usually been more open to new brands than the rest of Canada.
It appears that I tend to favor cars built in places other than their respective companies’ homeland.
Both my Civic Type R and GR Corolla were built in England. My Wife’s Honda Pilot was built in Alabama. My Civic Si was built in Canada. Also, my former Mazda 3 and Golf GTI were built in Mexico. Only My Miata and wife’s former CX9 were built in Japan.
I’ve had German, UK, US, Canadian and Japanese cars. The build quality vs reliability vs design ranking would be Japanese, German, US/Canada UK.
I can’t imagine caring about what happens to the Jeep nameplate. If they want to slap it on Chinese cars, meh.
TBQ: My Volt’s UAW Local #22 sticker has the lower peninsula of Michigan depicted so, somewhever in that state. My previous car, a Focus, was built in Ohio, according to its UAW sticker.
I don’t care so much that these were built in the USA, so much as I care that they were built by unionized labor. I am not itching to buy a car from one of our nation’s scab plants.
To answer TBQ:
Ford Escape PHEV: USA
Chevrolet Bolt: USA
Chevrolet Spark EV: Korea
I would rather not buy a car made in the PRC.
I care somewhat, but mostly it comes down tot he longevity of the key parts. I am loathe to buy a GM Trax because the low buck small displacement turbo motors from Daewoo I think are known for issues requiring full engine replacement for otherwise seemingly simple repairs.
It took a while for Japan, and then Korea to deal with and fix a lot of quality issues. I would be wary of new Chinese built vehicles until they proved to be pretty decent for the rest of you Guinea Pigs. Though the whole human rights abuse still might affect my choice in the end.
My car is made in Ingersoll, Ontario. I don’t care all that much where my car is built, but an interesting location, or one in my own province like that, is kind of fun
When I was shopping for my most recent used vehicle, the list was eventually whittled down to two choices: Mazda CX-30 or Mazda CX-5. Although I preferred the form factor of the CX-30, I wound up buying a CX-5, mostly for 2 reasons. [a] the CX-5 was more widely sold/available used with FWD (vs. AWD) and [b] the CX-5 was made in Japan whereas the CX-30 was made in Mexico.
So yes, apparently I do care where my car is built.
Final assembly for my last few cars: 4 USA, 1 Canada, 1 Mexico. UAW and Unifor for the USA and Canada ones, respectively. And yes it does matter to me.
Yes, a proper Global vehicle can be made in one place. I believe Jeep should focus on making vehicles that would work in any market and making a F ton of them for export. Then they can go into agreements with other nations for domestic production, but design should be based in the US.
Michigan, but honestly I could care less about where my car is built so long as people are getting paid well and treated well (relative to their economy).
I prefer to buy 100% Made in USA products, but if the USA doesn’t have a competitive product with the features I want I look elsewhere. I believe we need an open market for the proper competition necessary to drive the betterment of domestic products.
Due to Chicken Tax which is a Tariff that has been in place since LBJ and no president since has ever seriously considered shitcanning it, and we got these bloated full size trucks ever since.
I’d much rather have a COE or Cab Forward Crew cab 6ft bed pickup than my Ram 1500, sadly all the features I wanted were only available in the Ram 1500. I really have no brand loyalty to speak of for Automobiles, just brands I’ve had a ton of negative experiences with.
My Lotus was built at Hethel, 4 miles from my house and 200 metres from my office. I didn’t care until Chinese engineered Lotuseses built in China got launched to UK staff via email, rather than being unveiled in real life like we were in some small way important to the brand.
My Toyota was built in a Subaru factory. I have no feelings about this.
TBQ: Let’s see.
Japan
America
England
Sweden
Honestly I had to look it up and was shocked the 06 Mini was built in England. Personally I want a time machine so I can go to 1988 Trollhatten, Sweden, to stock up on parts.
I loved the Alpine commercial and I want one.