GWM Signs Agreement to Acquire Factory in Brazil, Reaffirming Its Readiness to Establish Firm Foothold in South America and Rise Strong as Global Brand

Wednesday 25 August 2021 11:14
Great Wall Motor (GWM) and Daimler AG recently officially signed an agreement on acquisition of Daimler's Iracemapolis factory in Brazil. The handover and the transfer of the factory's ownership is expected to be done by the end of 2021. After taking over the factory, GWM will upgrade it into a smart factory in line with the company's global manufacturing standards. The acquisition is another reaffirmation of GWM's readiness to expand its global presence and cater to growing demands of the automobile markets in Brazil and South America.

GWM continues to expand its business presence and automobile production bases across the world through its Globalization strategy following an inauguration of its official opening of GWM Rayong Plant in Thailand in June this year. This Rayong plant is GWM's second full-production manufacturing outside China that serves as the production, distribution and export hub for the right-hand-drive vehicles in ASEAN region. Most recently, the top management from GWM's headquarters in China, led by Xiangjun Meng , Rotating President, and Xiangshang Liu , Vice President of Global Strategy, Great Wall Motor, officially signed an agreement on acquisition of a Daimler's Iracemapolis factory in Brazil with top executives from Daimler AG. The transfer of factory ownership will be completed by the end of this year.

Xiangjun Meng , Rotating President, Great Wall Motor, said, "South America is a high potential region with car market readiness as high as other regions worldwide. GWM spearheaded our expansion into this region by entering Chile in 2007, making us the first Chinese carmaker with business presence in this country. Having enjoyed continuous success and excellent market response in Chile, our agreement signing with Daimler AG to acquire its Iracemapolis factory marks a new milestone in our venture into South America. Brazil tops all South American countries in terms of economic strength, landscape and population, and serves as one of the seven largest automotive markets in the world. GWM has taken Brazil as an important strategic market to enhance our presence in South America. This acquisition is surely one of our milestones to leverage the geographical advantages to advance our development and implementation of our strategies in the South American market."

After taking over the Iracemapolis factory in Brazil, GWM will upgrade it into a smart factory fully equipped with advanced technologies, quality control, innovative information management as well as environmental - friendly production process that are in line with GWM's global manufacturing standards. Once completed, this new smart factory will have a full production capacity of 100,000 units per annum. The upcoming operations of this plant in Brazil will also create more than 2,000 jobs for local people, drive the development of local automotive industries, promote further transformation and upgrading of local industrial mix, as well as contribute more profits to Brazil in the near future.

At present, GWM owned a total of 12 full process production bases in the world, including the Rayong factory in Thailand and Tula factory in Russia, and 5 knock-down (KD) factories outside China, namely the KD factories in Malaysia, Ecuador, Tunisia, Bulgaria ,etc. Each of them has different capacities, technologies, and strengths to support different productions according to the market demands of each region. In addition to production facilities in key regions worldwide, GWM operates a global network of ten R&D centers in seven countries across the world to develop advanced automobile technologies and apply them to the production innovations to give its products more modern appeals, greater safety, better eco-friendliness, and the ability to meet the needs of modern-day consumers.

As one of the first Chinese car manufacturers to enter and win great popularity in overseas markets, GWM has started exporting its vehicles since 1997, spearheaded by its HAVAL - SUV brand, following by other brands that also keep the global market exciting including ORA - EV brand, GWM PICKUP - Pickup brand, WEY -Premium SUV brand, and the newly added brand TANK. The company currently has 500 global networks in over 60 countries across the world, including Russia, South Africa, Australia, Central and South America, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Despite the COVID-19 outbreak and the slow economy worldwide, GWM's vehicle sales have already exceeded 700,000 units globally this year (as of end of July 2021), representing a growth of 49.9% year on year. Of these, more than 74,000 units were contributed by international sales, an increase of 176.2% year on year. With international sales accounting for 10.4% of overall sales, GWM is demonstrating its capability to expand and thrive in the global market.

Source: J-CONNECT PR