The automobile industry plays a very important part of the economic dividend of a country by increasing overall GDP, increasing exports, employment, etc. China is currently the largest producer and manufacturer of cars in the world surpassing established markets such as the USA, Japan, and Germany. China’s neighbor India is also one of the largest car markets in the world and the fastest emerging one too. Off late Chinese car brands have finally taken the leap and entered the highly lucrative, exciting Indian market. SIAC-owned MG Motor is the first Chinese brand to enter India with Great Wall Motors following suit. We have previously covered MG Motor, this time we shall take you through the story of Great Wall Motors.
Great Wall Motors (GWM) was founded in 1984 in the city of Baoding, Hebei province, China. Initially, GWM started off manufacturing trucks and light cargo vehicles. In 1990, Jack Wey took over as the general manager of GWM and this marked a turning point in the company’s rise to prominence. In 1995, the Great Wall Deer pickup truck was introduced and quickly asserted itself as the market leader in the pickup segment of China. Great Wall started exporting the Deer to markets in the Middle East hence bringing in an era the era of globalization for the Chinese auto market. GWM launched its first SUV – Safe for the Chinese market in 2002. The GWM Safe was China’s first economic SUV and within a few months from its launch went on the be amongst the top 3 SUVs in China. GWM created history in 2003 when it became the first privately-owned domestic car manufacturer to go public when it got listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. With an infusion of fresh capital, GWM was well on its way to further expansion! GWM is a vertically integrated company, this further strengthens and gives better control over the supply chain, efficiency in the production/manufacturing process. GWM has been manufacturing in-house critical car components/parts such as – engines, rear and front axles, suspensions and other core components. This gives GWM a competitive advantage over its rivals and allows for better customization, efficiency in production, quality and overall control of the production process. The year 2005 was a very important year for the brand as the Haval SUV was launched for the Chinese market. GWM owned brand Haval is one of the most popular and best-selling SUVs in the Chinese market to this day! Hence giving GWM a very strong foothold in the SUV market of China. German car component manufacturing giant Bosch announced a joint development partnership with GWM in 2008 to develop diesel engines that would be used across various car models under the GWM umbrella.
Having already established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the SUV segment and a good range of successful products such as the Haval H3, Haval M2, Haval H5, Great Wall V80 MPV; Great Wall Motors entered unchartered waters with the launch of their first-ever sedan the Great Wall Voleex V30 in 2010. With the huge success and popularity of the Haval SUV range, GWM decided to make Haval an independent brand under the Great Wall Motors group in 2013. For the first time, the Great Wall group had 2 brands – Haval and Great Wall, in March 2013 Haval SUVs exceeded 1 million units in market volume! Haval SUVs became the mainstay of Great Wall as the group switched to an SUV focused approach. Haval has a great model range that can serve customers all the way from a small-sized SUV to a large-sized SUV, this further establishes the brand and asserts its dominance in the market. Apart from operations in the domestic market – China, GWM also has operations and production facilities in countries such as – Russia, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Bulgaria, Vietnam amongst others. With an ever-increasing rise of technology and the buyer demographic becoming younger, global car brands have quickly had to adapt their strategy for a new age customer – a more informed, younger, technology-oriented, and most importantly value-centric car buyer. Over the past few years, the global car industry has witnessed an increase in demand, especially in the luxury SUV segment, with markets such as China and India leading the way. In 2017, GWM launched its luxury sub-brand WEY. WEY was China’s first luxury SUV brand with an intent to allow more people to afford a luxury SUV. GWM launched its first EV the Great Wall C30EV in 2018 joining the EV bandwagon towards a global alternative fuel mobility future. In 2018, German car giant BMW announced a partnership with GWM to manufacture Mini EVs in China.
GWM announced it was entering the Indian market during the latter half of 2019. India is a very interesting and exciting market for GWM, Indians love SUVs and that’s exactly the sweet spot GWM will want to hit. GWM will be locally manufacturing their cars in India for the Indian market. GWM will be manufactured out of Pune in the Talegaon auto hub, according to a deal said to be valued around the $250-$300 million-mark GWM will be taking over the old General Motors plant in Talegaon. GWM seems to be ticking all the correct boxes to set themselves up for a successful run in the Indian market. Marking its debut at the ongoing New Delhi Auto Expo, 2020 the initial impressions are promising, we shall have to wait and watch what China’s best SUV carmaker has in store for the Indian market.
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