Great Wall Motors
Great Wall Motors Company Limited is a Chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Baoding, Hebei, China. The company is named after the Great Wall of China and was formed in 1984. It is China's largest sport utility vehicle and pick-up truck producer. It sells passenger cars and trucks under the Great Wall brand and SUVs under the Haval and WEY brands.
In 2016, Great Wall Motors set a historical sales record of 1,074,471 cars worldwide, increased by 26% compared to 2015.
History
Established in 1984, Great Wall began with low volume production trucks such as the CC130. They later made the CC513, using the chassis from the Beijing BJ212. In 1993, they started producing a series of different passenger vehicles, starting with a sedan called the CC1020, with styling heavily resembling the Nissan Cedric Y30. This was followed by the CC1020S with styling based off the Toyota Crown along with a station wagon version, the CC6470. Other early Great Wall models includes a BJ212-based crew cab pickup a BJ212-based station wagon, the CC6490 and a small sedan, the Hawk CC6470. In 1994, the Chinese government halted the production because Great Wall didn't have the right permit for car productions.In 1996, Great Wall focused on only trucks, not producing another sedan car until 2010. The company has been a very successful producer of pick-ups first reaching top position in the Chinese pick-up market in 1998.
Making an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange on 15 December 2003, Great Wall was the first private Chinese auto manufacturer to become a public company. The company is considering listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as well.
Sales in 2010 were measured at less than 400,000 with exports a small portion of that figure at little more than 50,000, no increase from 2009 figures. That same year saw the Great Wall Haval H series as the second most-purchased SUV in China although this figure may technically include two discrete models, the Great Wall Haval H3 and the Great Wall Haval H5.
Manufacturing for 2011 resulted in 486,800 units, and output this year was the tenth largest of any vehicle maker in China. In 2012, it was reported that the company only allows workers one day off per week and new hires undergo months-long, military-style training.
Great Wall started selling in Europe in 2006, offering small vans. A lot of 500 SUVs were shipped to Italy in 2006 as well. Great Wall products were first available in the Australian market in 2009, and the company was, as of 2010, the only Chinese car manufacturer to sell in the EU. European sales continue, with the 2011 opening of a factory in Bulgaria that assembles three different models from knock-down kits.
In April 2017, Great Wall Motors released a new premium SUV brand named WEY.
In May 2017, the company launched its first electric new energy vehicle, Great Wall C30EV.
In July 2018, Great Wall and German manufacturer BMW announced a partnership to produce electric Mini vehicles in China.
In January 2020, Great Wall Motor stated that it will buy the car plant of General Motors in India as part of the company's aim to manufacture and sell cars in India.
In February 2020, Great Wall Motor started that it will buy car manufacturing plant of General Motors in Thailand.
Operations
Production facilities in China
With a manufacturing location in Baoding, Hebei province, Great Wall has expansion plans for future production bases and facilities.Other production bases include a site in Tianjin, a direct-controlled municipality, that began operating in 2011 with further expansion phases planned until 2015. The first phase of this facility may become operational in August 2011 adding 250,000 units per year capacity, and when the project reaches completion total capacity will be twice that.
Another 500,000 units per year base was built in Baoding. This second base become operational in October 2013 and is located in the Xushui county.
Overseas production facilities
There have been several other overseas factories that produced Great Wall models from knock-down kits, located in Bulgaria, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Senegal, Ukraine, and Vietnam. It is possible that there are now more than ten such factories.These facilities are not necessarily affiliated with or owned by Great Wall. By 2015 Great Wall plans for the existence of 24 such workshops.
Bulgaria
Together with the Bulgarian company Litex Motors, Great Wall has a production base in Bahovitsa, near the town of Lovech, Bulgaria, that became operational in February 2012. As of 2012, the factory had the capacity to assemble 2,000 cars per year from knock-down kits. Initially only making the Voleex C10, the factory later added production of an SUV and a pick-up, the Hover 6 and the Steed 5. Plans for a trial run of electric cars were discussed in late 2011, but were postponed.As of January 2015, the company had a production output of about 5,000 vehicles per year and was planning to reach up to 8,000 vehicles within a year or two. By mid-2016, the company had a total of 14 dealerships in 12 Bulgarian cities, three of them in the capital Sofia.
Iran
The Iranian motor company Diar has assembled Great Wall vehicles from knock-down kits.Russia
In September 2015, Great Wall Motors broke ground on a new plant located in the Tula Region, Russia. The plant is slated to have a total production capacity of 150,000 units per year if the project is successful enough to warrant a second phase of expansion. Initially scheduled to open in 2017, the facility is touted as an "all-process vehicle plant", which may indicate it is on a larger scale than other overseas assembly shops.Cancelled projects
Brazil
A new factory was set to become operational by 2013 in Brazil, but as of May 2019 has not eventuated.Thailand
As of 2013, Great Wall Motors had plans to invest $340 million for a new factory in Thailand, but this expansion effort was shelved in early 2014. On February 17, 2020, General Motors announced it will withdraw from the Thai market and sell its Rayong plant to Great Wall Motors by the end of the year.Research and development
While R&D activities commenced in 1998, in 2010 the company began construction of a technical center in Baoding, Hebei province. Part of an effort to increase R&D investment, the center may become fully operational in 2013 as Great Wall states it will obtain "world-leading R&D... and technical ability" by that year.Currently, component design may rely heavily on foreign technical assistance, and some hard-to-source parts may be provisioned from overseas; the company states it has cooperative agreements with companies such as Autoliv, Delphi Automotive, BorgWarner, Robert Bosch GmbH, the German company Brose, Ricardo plc, TRW Automotive, and Valeo in regards to specific parts such as engines, transmissions, door locks, and airbags, etc. As of 2009, some models used Mitsubishi engines and Siemens electronic systems—both sourced in China.
In January 2016, GWM has announced the creation of a R&D center in Yokohama, Japan as part of a strategy to enter the Japanese auto market.
In June 2016, GWM has announced the creation of a R&D center in Bangalore, India as part of a strategy to enter the Indian auto market.
Products
Brand names
While its entire model line initially carried the same badge, the company planned c. 2010 to differentiate its SUV, passenger car, and pick-up truck offerings naming them Haval, Voleex, and Wingle, respectively. This goal may not have seen full fruition as compact cars carry the Great Wall badge as late as 2016. However, SUVs have been branded as Havals since 2013. Great Wall recognizes this on its website stating that in March 2013, " Haval brand became independent officially, bringing GWM into an era of dual brand of Haval and Great Wall."Vehicles
A wide model range can be had from Great Wall—from light trucks and SUVs to urban runabouts.Electric vehicles
Great Wall planned to sell electric vehicles domestically beginning in 2011, and in that year the company stated it had "made quite a huge investment in exploring technologies for new energy autos". An all-electric SUV was showcased at the 2010 Guangzhou Auto Show, and the company is considering a tie-up with electric car maker Coda Automotive.China subsidizes oil and wants its domestic automakers to begin selling electric vehicles for this reason. Some Chinese automakers also see opportunities in less mature electric vehicles because Western companies have yet to develop much of a lead in the technology.
In 2019, it unveiled the Ora R1 , which is dubbed as the world’s cheapest electric car.
Sales outside China
Great Wall products have been available in many places across the globe, including Australia. The majority of exports may be in the form of knock-down kits as is the case with the assembly plant in Bulgaria.In Europe, Great Wall Motors is present in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Italy, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. In the future, it plans to also expand, among others, in Hungary, Poland, and Austria.
In the Americas, Great Wall Motors is present in Belize, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay.
Great Wall launched its range in India at the Auto Expo, with sales schedule for 2021.
While Great Wall is engaged in export, nearly 70 percent of sales in 2009 came from central and western China.
After-sale care training
The company offers an after-sales service training course for employees of overseas distributors.Safety
It is important to note that cars sold in the European Union, the Hover and Steed, may be marketed as commercial vehicles exempting them from EU safety standards. As of 2010, some Great Wall products including passenger vehicles and the new Hover and Steed have obtained an EU whole vehicle type approval, an EU regime that tests road vehicles and approves them for production and sale in Europe. In 2012, the Haval H6 is planned to receive EU certification.Between 2010 and 2015, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program tested various Great Wall cars with all receiving two or three stars except the four-starred X240. As of 2016, no Great Wall vehicle had received the maximum ranking, five stars.
Recalls
An Australian importer recalled Chinese-made cars of several brands including Great Wall due to discoveries of asbestos in gaskets. There is an ongoing verification process in Europe to evaluate the presence of asbestos.Motorsport
The company regularly makes appearances at the Dakar Rally. In 2010 it raced with Haval H3 model. Its best rankings were achieved in the 2012 and 2013 editions, when the team finished 6th. At the 2014 edition, the team has been competing with the new Haval H8 model.Controversies
Italian automaker Fiat has claimed that a Great Wall A-segment car, the Peri, is a copy of its popular second generation Fiat Panda. A 2008 Turin court ruling substantiated the claim stating that the Great Wall Peri, “doesn’t look like a different car but is a Panda with a different front end.” A copyright infringement case in Shijiazhuang, China, however, was rejected, with the court claiming that "consumers would not be confused between the two" as they are "clearly different, particularly the front and rear parts of the vehicles".Other Great Wall models were also inspired by products of foreign automakers. The Great Wall Florid looks like a Toyota ist, the Great Wall Sailor/SA220 looks like a Nissan Frontier, the Great Wall Coolbear is essentially a carbon copy of the first-generation Scion xB, and the original Great Wall Hover model looks like the Isuzu Axiom.