The new Jeep look was unveiled late last week and over the weekend, its a brave new design for Jeep now that they are under Fiat’s stewardship. Traditional Jeep fans over in the US of A were polarized by the new design, most web commenter condemned the new Cherokee for trying to pull off a Range Rover Evoque style design to, others commented that Jeep is now aiming to be a global brand and should aim to satisfy global tastes. Even Chrysler were telling netizens to remember that Jeep are more than just design, does this indicate that even Chrysler thought it was a bit off?

Jeep was one of the first foreign made cars in the Chinese market, the Cherokee plowed Chinese roads and unpaved roads for three generations and still continues to be made in China as the Beijing Qi Shi and with a four cylinder engine. So what exactly do Chinese consumers think of the new Jeep look? We took a quick look at some comments left on China’s (and possibly the world’s) biggest auto website, autohome.com.cn:

Did you design a Martian car?

So god damned ugly!

Fucking awesome! Smash traditional design concepts with high end vision! This will bring in a new generation of design with the ability to take on VW!

Oh my god! So ugly!

My personal opinion is that this car will tank in the Chinese market

Over on Auto.163.com there were in excess of 200 comments on the Jeep look, most negative:

Is it a Korean car? It looks Korean

No matter what you say, it still looks ugly. I like the big lights, its an interesting design at least/

It looks like a Shanzhai (fake) car

Not bad….

If I’m honest, Ive never seen such an ugly car

Dont change the solid looks, otherwise you kill the Jeep brand

The grill I can except, the lights are so damned ugly

So there you have it. Whilst the current Jeep Compass has been relatively popular in the Chinese market and has managed to keep Chrysler somewhat competitive in the Chinese market, the forthcoming Jeep Cherokee really doesn’t seem to do anything for Chinese consumers.