Chinese car maker Trumpchi to change its name so as not to put off US customers who don’t like their president

  • GAC Motor was preparing to enter the US market in 2010 under brand Trumpchi
  • At time, there was no issue with flagship product with Trump politically inactive
  • Company on brink of changing the name completely as to distance themselves
  • The 'trump' part of the name translates to 'best' and 'chi' represents China 

A Chinese car-maker is considering a complete rebrand because its name Trumpchi is too similar to the US President's. 

When GAC Motor was preparing to enter the United States market in 2010 it foresaw challenges in product localization and regulation, but didn't see any issue with the name of its flagship brand.

But they are on the brink of changing the name completely to give it a more apolitical image.

A Guangzhou Automobile Group Company (GAC) Trumpchi GS7 sports utility vehicle (SUV) stands on display at the Auto Shanghai 2017 vehicle show in Shanghai, China

A Guangzhou Automobile Group Company (GAC) Trumpchi GS7 sports utility vehicle (SUV) stands on display at the Auto Shanghai 2017 vehicle show in Shanghai, China

Donald Trumps popularity appears to be an issue for the Chinese businessmen, so GAC Motor are thinking of rebranding their flagship car the Trumpchi

Donald Trumps popularity appears to be an issue for the Chinese businessmen, so GAC Motor are thinking of rebranding their flagship car the Trumpchi

A Guangzhou Automobile Group Company (GAC) Trumpchi GE3 sport utility vehicle stands on display at the company's headquarter in Guangzhou, China

A Guangzhou Automobile Group Company (GAC) Trumpchi GE3 sport utility vehicle stands on display at the company's headquarter in Guangzhou, China

Executives at the firm and its parent Guangzhou Automobile Group say they may now change the Trumpchi brand - which was meant to sound like its Chinese name Chuanqi, which is a play on the word 'legendary' and means passing good fortune - after it drew some ridicule at the Detroit auto show earlier this year. 

Speaking after the show, GAC Motor design director Zhang Fan said: 'We saw people were laughing at this and took pictures looking only at this detail, and also put on Facebook or other websites.

'When we read all that feedback, we realized it might not be very positive promotion for the brand.'

The company says any similarity between the brand name and that of the US president was unintentional. 

Working from similar sounds to the Chinese name, GAC came up with 'trump' for being the best and 'chi' for China, Zhang said.

Feng Xingya, GAC Group President, said: 'This is a complete coincidence, we didn't even have the slightest idea he would be president.

'At first I'd never thought of it, why change the name? 

'It's the president Americans selected, it's similar to the president's name, this has to be good right?'

'But in the United States the level of opposition (to Trump) is high.'

Trumpchi cars are generally priced below foreign brands, but the brand created around a decade ago has recently seen a surge in sales thanks to rapidly improving product quality. 

Parent GAC Group is China's sixth-largest automaker by sales.

The southern Chinese automaker says it now expects to enter the United States in 2019, two years later than it initially hoped, after a management change. 

It says it is still working on products that meet US regulatory and market demands.