Great Wall Motor to see exports equal domestic sales

Shanghai, September 9 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor posted exports at 47% of its total sales in the first half this year and expected to see exports equal the domestic sales for the whole year, said the company’s vice president and secretary Bai Xuefei, according to Stockstar News.

Great Wall Motor won’t worry about the effect of global economy uncertainty on exports because the company mainly targets the developing countries as its destination market, like Russia, Ukraine and Iran, Bai Xuefei said.

The SUV expert expects to increase its global plants to 15 in two or three years for sales expansion. The automaker has shown confidence in its exports surge.

However, Great Wall Motor underwent gross margin rate decline to 20.5% in the first half from 23.9% a year earlier. According to Bai, advertising in the first half took 20 million yuan more than the same period of last year, using 1.5% of the sales revenue. He expects the advertisement investment will reap benefits by the second half or next year.

In addition, the automaker increased investment in research and development by 30-50 million yuan for the first half from the same period of last year, accounting for 2.5% of its total sales revenue with a 0.3% growth from a year earlier.

As for the rising materials price, Bai said it will not affect Great Wall Motor too much as the company puts emphasis on technology for value-added products.