Great Wall Motor ends joint venture in Russia

Shanghai, November 19 (Gasgoo.com) China's largest SUV and truck maker Great Wall Motor Co said earlier this week that it has decided to terminate its joint venture in Russia because of hard industry protectionist measures in the country, the Wall Street Journal online reported on Tuesday.

The joint venture, called Great Wall Alabuga Motor Open Joint Stock, was set up in March 2007 by Great Wall Motor and Land & Property Management Authority of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation and was scheduled for operation early last year. Great Wall owns 75 percent of the joint venture and the Tatarstan agency owns the remainder.

Great Wall said in a statement that "the long-awaited tax concessions by the Russian government in the special economic zone have not been approved, which prompted the automaker to quit the production plan.

"We'll not build manufacturing plants in Russia any more," said deputy general manager Bai Xuefei. "But we'll look for other Russian partners to assemble our vehicles for distribution in the Russian and European markets."
 
Great Wall Motor has become the largest Chinese brand in the Russian market since it entered the country in 2004. This year it expects to double sales in Russia to 20,000 vehicles.