Chrysler makes deal to build Jeeps in China

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who also runs Fiat, believes that Jeep is one of a handful of Fiat and Chrysler brands with global potential. Jeep sales set a new record last year, rising 19 percent to over 700,000 vehicles. Marchionne is counting on building sales of brands Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and the Fiat 500 to offset losses in Europe.

Fiat and Chrysler lag far behind other foreign carmakers in China, where Chinese consumers bought 19.3 million cars last year. General Motors and Volkswagen both sold over 2.8 million cars in China last year, and together accounted for over 29 percent of total vehicle sales in China, according to IHS Global Insight.

Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat, by contrast, sold just over 60,000 cars in China in 2012. The newly launched Fiat Viaggio had sales of about 10,000 in its first three months, Fiat said.

Fiat aims to boost sales in China to 300,000 by 2014, the company has said. It opened its first factory there last year, where it builds the Viaggio sedan on a platform shared with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and the Dodge Dart.

No decision has been made yet on how many Jeeps to build in China, said a GAC executive on Tuesday.

“We are going to enhance our cooperation with Chrysler and Fiat on R&D and components purchasing and the production,” said Zeng Qinghong, vice chairman and president of GAC, on the sidelines of a press event at the Detroit auto show.

Fiat's stock rose more than 6 percent in Italy on Monday when an Italian paper reported that a new agreement to build Jeeps in China was imminent.

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