Chinese car company GAC will sell cars in USA in 2019 (Update)

GAC Enverge – Will Trump hit the Chinese with a 25% tariff like they do to USA manufacturers?

UPDATE Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (better known as the evocative GAC) had a massive display at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, filled with cars and SUVs that looked ready for American showrooms and driveways.

And GAC came with a promise to sell cars here by 2019, which, thanks to that display, was a lot more believable than when GAC said it would come over here in 2017 a few years ago, announced from a tiny stand on the edge of the Detroit Auto Show. I personally remember GAC from its tweeter and sackbut days.

But while GAC may be ready for America, America’s government may not be ready for GAC. Washington is pissed, as Reuters reports:

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, cited GAC’s plans announced in Detroit on the Senate floor Wednesday and argued that Chinese automotive trade rules are “manifestly unfair, and a typically unfortunate example of China’s rapacious trading policies."

Chinese-built cars shipped to the United States face just a 2.5 percent tariff, while U.S.-built cars sent to China are hit with a 25% tariff.

Trump himself also talked down on Chinese tariffs to American cars, so it’s fair to expect more conflict about this down the road. Whether or not GAC can sway Trump with its remarkably Trumpian brand name, “Trumpchi," is yet to be seen.

01/16/18 Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group is planning to enter the U.S. auto market in 2019 with a new electric SUV and sedan that it unveiled at the Detroit auto show Monday.

GAC Motors, which has been the only Chinese automaker attending the Detroit auto show in recent years, took the wraps off an electric concept called the Enverge and a sedan called the GA4. GAC has marketed cars and SUVs known as Trumpchi in China since 2010, but the company says the name was not inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump and it will not be used here.

Feng Xingya, President of GAC Group and Chairman of GAC Motors, said during a press conference at the Detroit auto show that the Enverge will be "all-electric" and it will its first SUV designed for the U.S. market.

Zhang Fan, vice president of engineering for GAC Motors, added the Enverge will have a 71-kilowatt hour battery and it will have a driving range of over 370 miles.