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Stellantis Group announced that due to the lack of progress in the previously announced plan for Stellantis Group to acquire a majority stake in Guangzhou Auto Fick, a joint venture with GAC GROUP, Stellantis Group will adopt a light asset approach to develop the Jeep brand in China and negotiate with GAC GROUP to terminate the local joint venture. Since then, the Stellantis Group will focus on the distribution of imported Jeep-branded cars in China. In addition, the Stellantis Group will continue to strengthen the product supply of the Jeep brand in China and strengthen the electrification lineup of imported cars.

Hearing this news, "Automotive Industry concern" is still a little shocked, but it is also expected that GAC Fick has already shut down a few months ago. According to the production and sales data released by GAC GROUP, the cumulative production and sales volume from January to June were 822 and 1861 respectively, down 89.35% and 84.18% respectively from the same period last year. GAC Fick was almost zero from March to June, and production was at a standstill. There has been no public response to the stagnation in production.

Information shows that Fiat Group is a famous Italian carmaker, founded in 1899, its brands include Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and so on. In April 1999, Nanjing Fiat was established and Fiat entered China in the form of a joint venture for the first time. In December 2007, Fiat Group and NAC Group terminated their cooperation.

In 2007, Jeep entered the Chinese market by way of import, and successively introduced two heavyweight models, the Grand Cherokee and Commander. In March 2010, Fiat Group and GAC GROUP jointly established Guangzhou Auto Fiat Automobile Co., Ltd., the first domestic model Fixiang officially launched in September 2012, the official guiding price is 10.88-158800 yuan. Since then, GAC Fiat has successively made domestic Zhiyue models and other models, while selling Fiat brand classic imported models, including Fiat 500 and Fiyue.

In January 2014, Fiat Group announced the acquisition of Chrysler Group, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat. At the same time, the Fiat Chrysler Group (FCA) was officially established to become the seventh largest automaker in the world. In January 2015, GAC Fiat Automobile Co., Ltd. changed its name to Guangzhou Auto Fiat Chrysler Co., Ltd. In November 2015, the first domestic model of Jeep was officially launched, and Free Light became the new domestic name of the new Cherokee (Cherokee), with a price ranging from 229800 yuan to 315800 yuan. Since then, Jeep has successively expanded the product camp, such as domestic Freedom Man, Guide, Big Commander and so on. According to the data, GAC Fick sold 179900 vehicles in 2016, up 23.57 per cent year-on-year to 222300 in 2017, accounting for more than 10 per cent of GAC GROUP's sales, the highest since its inception.

In 2018, there was a "Waterloo" in China's auto market, including Changan Ford, Shenlong Automobile, Dongfeng Renault and other joint venture brands. in this year, Fiat announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market, while Guangzhou Auto Fick, which had only Jeep, had a more and more difficult life. From 2018 to 2021, the sales volume was 125200, 73900, 40500 and 20100 respectively, a decline for four consecutive years. GAC GROUP and become the largest decline in sales of car companies.

It took Jeep five years to go from a mainstream brand that sells more than 200,000 vehicles a year to ending the joint venture and announcing its delisting. In September 2021, Stellantis Group announced the closure of Guangzhou Auto Fick plant. According to GAC GROUP's financial report, by the end of 2021, its assets totaled 8.681 billion yuan and liabilities totaled 8.678 billion yuan, making it almost insolvent.

With sales plummeting and insolvent, will GAC Fick become the next Dongfeng Renault? This is a question raised by Automotive Industry concern a year ago. Nowadays, the answer to this question is obvious. Of course, whether the GAC Fick joint venture will be terminated remains to be negotiated, but based on Jeep's performance in China, ending the cooperation may be the most direct way to stop losses in time.

According to the official website, the Guangqi Fick Jeep brand models for sale include three domestic models, the Grand Commander, the Compass and the Free Light, as well as imported models such as the Horse Shepherd, the Grand Cherokee and the Gladiator, of which the Compass is the backbone of the Jeep brand, with 8991 vehicles sold in 2021, produced by the Guangzhou factory and 6791 by the Grand Commander, and the model is produced by the Changsha factory. It is understood that Guangzhou Auto Fick has production bases in Changsha and Guangzhou, in which Changsha factory mainly produces free light, big commander, Guangzhou factory mainly produces free man and guide.

With the intensification of market stock competition, more and more automobile brands begin to fade out of view, including Southeast Mitsubishi, Changan Suzuki, Dongfeng Renault, Changan DS and so on. However, everything has consequences for a reason, GAC Fick's outcome is not unexpected, in the context of independent brands upward, mainstream joint venture brands squeeze, GAC Fick will not be the last.

On April 8, 2022, Guangzhou Automobile Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Acura announced in a notice on their website that Guangzhou Automobile Honda will no longer produce and sell existing products of Guangzhou Automobile Acura brand from 2023, and relevant channels of Guangzhou Automobile Honda will continue to provide honorable services to Guangzhou Automobile Acura owners and always protect the rights and interests of car owners. It also means that Acura, a high-end Honda brand, will officially withdraw from the Chinese market from 2023.

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