The Cherokee, a legendary Jeep 4×4 almost in its 50s, may have to change its name. The chief of the eponymous Native American tribe believes that the time has come to stop using their name.
The tribal chief told the group that he does not tolerate the use of Cherokee by their business, a spokeswoman for the tribe confirmed Monday. He made this known to Jeep’s parent company, the Stellantis group, resulting from the merger between the French groups PSA and the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler, by videoconference on January 29.
“I think the time has come for companies and sports teams to remove Amerindian names, images and mascots from their products, jerseys and teams” had justified the Cherokee leader in a statement sent on January 14 to the American magazine Car and Driver, who had requested it.
4×4 launched in 1974
“I’m sure it was well intentioned, but it does not honor us to have our name written on the side of a car,” he lamented.
Jeep launched this 4×4 in 1974. Several models have followed one another since then. Under pressure, the Washington football team and the Cleveland baseball team have also recently dropped their names borrowed from Native American tribes, the Redskins and the Indians respectively.
afp / br
#Cherokee #tribe #asks #Jeep #change #4×4 #rtsch
