China’s GAC to scrap Trump-sounding brand for US market
DETROIT — Chinese automaker GAC Motor will scrap the brand name it uses in China when it enters the U.S. market next year because it could be confused with President Donald Trump’s surname.
For the past eight years, GAC has sold cars and SUVs under the brand Trumpchi in its home market, but is now researching new names before the company’s expected U.S. debut in the fourth quarter of 2019.
“We want to provide the best service for American customers, so we want to not be closely linked with politics,” Wang Qiujing, GAC president, said through an interpreter in an interview at the Detroit auto show. “This is the reason we want to rename the brand.”
GAC picked the Chinese name Trumpchi in 2010, well before Trump was elected. The similarity to Trump is just a coincidence, Wang added. GAC will continue to use Trumpchi in China, where the word means legend and good fortune.