Great Wall Motors (GWM), a top 10 automaker in China
is a private company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with
operations based in Baoding, Hebei Province. GWM is the largest Chinese SUV manufacturer,
distributed under its Haval brand which is also represented in Europe.
The Havel SUV has been the best performing SUV for 48 consecutive months
in May 2017. Great Wall Motors Electric Vehicles strategy is quite
ambitious and funded through a $2.7Bln (C¥16.8Bln) share placement,
announced in 2015. GWM stated that it would spend around $800M on
Research and Development of new energy vehicles (NEV), $600M on the
development of an NEV transmission system, around $300M on electric
motors and $160 on battery systems. In the same month, LG-Chem
announced that it secured a 200,000 unit battery order from GWM. GWM
plans to invest near $9Bln in green technology over a 10 year period and
is pursuing relationships with Japanese automakers. Although the planned entry into the NEV
market sounds quite exhilarating, in reality, GWM’s approach is far more
conservative as it first wants to test the market. The company’s first
production EV entered the market in 2016, and it is a variant of the
six-year-old C30, previously known as the Voleex C30. The company also
favors plug-in electric vehicles above pure electric vehicles. In 2011
GWM explored EV production with defunct Coda Motors. Great Wall Motors launched a luxury brand, WEY in November 2016 to compete with luxury SUVs from brands such as Lexus, Infiniti, Lincoln, and Volvo.
Great Wall Motors (GWM) have been quite busy off-late preparing to make a mark in the EV sector.
The company has been in the news recently as BMW’s preferred producer
of the Mini EV in China, now the company looks to sell around 700,000
EVs by 2025. The privately owned GWM headquartered in Baoding plans to
invest 2 billion yuan ($3.2million) by 2020 in support f its EV
strategy. According to Automotive News China GWM plans to launch 3 EVs
this year followed by two more in 2019.
Mini and and Great Wall Motors
of China signed a letter of intent for the production of the new Mini
EV for the Chinese market. Production of the new electric Mini will
commence at Mini’s main plant in Oxford in 2019. It is unclear why Mini
did not partner with BMW Group’s existing partner, Brilliance Automotive, through its joint venture enterprise BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA).
In the press release, BMW Group confirmed its commitment to the BBA JV
which includes two automobile production locations, an engine plant,
which includes a battery factory for electrified BMW brand vehicles
produced locally in Shenyang.
The Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors (GWM)
acquired a 3.5% stake in Australian Lithium miner, Pilbara Minerals for
$22 million in a bid to secure lithium supply for its EV strategy. To
date, GWM has been one of the slower movers in the Chinese EV sector,
but the purchase signals a more aggressive stance.
GWM and Japanese
chipmaker Renesas Electronics this week partnered to develop
autonomous and EV technologies. The companies will develop jointly
develop technologies at the Chinese carmakers
HQ in Hebei Province. The partners will jointly develop autonomous
technology, motor and battery control mechanisms for electric and hybrid
vehicles, communication systems, and information and entertainment
systems that make use of on-board monitors.
GWM Electric Vehicles
GWM Electric Car Strategy in the news
2018 Week 10 GWM EV Strategy update
2018 Week 9 GWM and Mini signs agreement to develop Mini in China
2017 Week 40 GWM secures lithium supply
2017 Week 21 GWM and Renesas team up on self-drving cars
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