| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | SEHK: 2333 |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Baoding, Hebei, China[1] |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Wei Jianjun, Chairman of the Executive Directors |
| Products | Automotive goods |
| Website | www.gwm.com.cn |
Great Wall Motor Company Limited[2] (simplified Chinese: 长城汽车; traditional Chinese: 長城汽車; pinyin: Chángchéng Qìchē) (SEHK: 2333) is a Chinese automobile manufacturer formed in 1976. The company is named after the Great Wall of China. As of 2010 it is China's largest SUV producer.[3]
2010 production capacity is estimated at 500,000 units/year,[4] but sales that year fell short at less than 400,000 (near 2% market share) and exports remained a small portion of that figure at little more than 50,000,[5] no increase from 2009 figures.[6]
In 2010 the Great Wall Haval H series was the 2nd most-purchased SUV in China.[7] This may technically comprise two discrete models, the Great Wall Haval H3 and the Great Wall Haval H5.
Small diesel engines are among its manufactures.[2]
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Established in 1976,[8] Great Wall initially manufactured only trucks not producing a saloon car until 2008 due to lack of a state license.[9] The company has been a very successful producer of pickup trucks first reaching top position in the Chinese pickup market in 1998. By 2010, cumulative production of Great Wall pickups had reached 700,000.[8]
Making an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange on 15 December 2003,[10] Great Wall was the first private Chinese auto manufacturer to become a public company.[11] The company is considering listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as well.[12]
At at time when many Chinese automakers only talked of exporting to developed, overseas markets such as Europe and the US, Great Wall entered the European market in 2006 selling small vans.[13] That same year saw it export products to around 60 countries.[14] It is, as of 2010, the only Chinese car manufacturer to sell in the EU.[6]
Great Wall made an appearance at both the 2010 and 2011 Dakar Rally.[15] It plans to attend subsequent Rallies.[6]
A wide model range can be had from Great Wall–from light trucks and SUVs to urban runabouts. 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.[2]
While its entire model line carries the same badge, the company differentiates its SUV, passenger car, and pickup truck lines naming them Halal, Voleex, and Wingle, respectively.[2]
Great Wall planned to sell electric vehicles domestically beginning in 2011,[3] and in that year the company stated it had "made quite a huge investment in exploring technologies for new energy autos".[2] It showed an all-electric SUV at the 2010 Guangzhou Auto Show.[16] China subsidizes oil[17] 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.[18]
Great Wall products have been available in many places across the globe. These include Africa,[19] Australia,[20] Europe,[21] Melanesia, the Middle East,[22] Russia,[19] South America,[9] South Asia,[23] and the South Pacific.
By 2006 Great Wall had exported vehicles to around 60 countries,[14] and by 2011 that figure has risen to 80.[2] These exports may be in the form of knock-down kits.
While Great Wall is engaged in export, nearly 70 percent of sales in 2009 came from central and western China.[1]
The company offers an after-sales service training course for employees of overseas distributors.[24]
It is important to note that cars sold in the European Union, the Hover and Deer, were marketed as commercial vehicles exempting them from EU safety standards.[25] As of 2010, some Great Wall products including passenger vehicles and the new Hover (Haval H5) and Deer (Wingle 5) have obtained an EU whole vehicle type approval,[26] an EU regime that tests road vehicles and approves them for production and sale in Europe.[27]
Italian automaker Fiat has claimed that a Great Wall A-segment car, the Peri (Jing Ling in China), is a copy of its popular 2nd-generation Fiat Panda.[28] A 2008 Turin court ruling substantiated the claim stating that the Great Wall Peri, “doesn’t look like a different car but is a [Fiat] Panda with a different front end.”[29] A copyright infringement case in China did not draw the same conclusion.[30]
Other Great Wall models may have been copied from those of foreign automakers, too. The Great Wall Florid, looks like a Toyota ist, the Great Wall Sailor/SA220 looks like an Isuzu Rodeo; and some older Great Wall Hover models may look like Isuzu Axioms, etc.
With a main manufacturing location in Baoding, Hebei province,[4] Great Wall has great plans for future production bases and facilities.
Planned production bases include a site in Tianjin, a direct-controlled municipality, that will see completion in 2013 or 2015.[31] The first phase of this facility may become operational in August 2011 adding 250,000 units/year capacity, and when the project reaches completion total capacity will be twice that.[32] Another 500,000 units/year base is also planned and will be built in Baoding. This second Baoding base may become operational by 2013[4] and is located in Xushui county.[2] Production capacity figures may consider engines and vehicles as discrete.
Together with the Bulgarian company Litex Motors, Great Wall has built a production base in the town of Lovech, Bulgaria, that became operational at the end of 2011. The plant is expected to have a production capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year and employ a number of 1,800 people.[33] Production capacity figures may consider engines and vehicles as discrete. The models that will be produced at the new plant are Voleex C10, Steed 5 and Hover H5.[34] Sales of imported cars started in Bulgaria on September 26, 2011, at the International Fair Plovdiv, and the first dealership was opened in Plovdiv on October 18.[35] On November 14, 2011, the first vehicle, a Voleex C10, was manufactured at the Lovech plant. Cars produced at the new plant will be marketed from the early beginning of 2012,[36] and a first series of electric cars are also planned to be produced starting from spring.[37] In December 2011, two other cars of the Chinese manufacturer received certification from the European Commission to be marketed within the European Union: the Voleex C30 and the Voleex C20R. They are expected be added to the range of vehicles assembled in Bulgaria and for 2012 another vehicle, the Hover H6, is planned to receive certification.[38]
There have been at least eight overseas knock-down factories that produce Great Wall models from knock-down kits. Such knock-down exports are an easy way for Great Wall to gain access to developing markets without added after-sales service costs. Factories exist in Bulgaria,[2] Egypt,[39] Ethiopia,[39] Indonesia,[39] Iran,[39] Nigeria,[40] Russia,[39] Senegal,[39] Ukraine,[2] Vietnam.[39] It is possible that there are now more than ten such factories.[2]
These factories are not necessarily affiliated with or owned by Great Wall. Both the Iranian motor company Diar[41] and the Indonesian WICM, an Indomobil Group subsidiary, assemble Great Wall vehicles from knock-down kits.
A new such factory will become operational in 2013 in Brazil,[39] and by 2015 Great Wall plans for the existence of 24 such facilities.[39] These may appear in places such as Malaysia,[42] the Philippines,[42] South Africa[42] and Venezuela,[42] etc.
While R&D activities commenced in 1998,[2] in 2010 the company began construction of a technical center in Baoding, Hebei province.[43] Part of an R&D investment effort,[44] the center will see completion in 2012.[45] It may become fully operational in 2013, as Great Wall states it will obtain "world-leading R&D... and technical ability" by that year.[2]
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