Great Wall Motor to spend $614M to expand capacity

Shanghai, May 31 (Gasgoo.com) Great Wall Motor has recently signed an agreement with the Tianjin Municipal Government on construction of a new plant in the coastal city. The new plant will cost the Group an investment of 4.2 billion yuan ($614 mln), have a capacity of 300,000 units and will produce the B-Class sedans and the high-end SUVs, media reported.

Under the agreement, the new plant will bring in equipment of stamping, welding, painting, assembly, testing and other related facilities for production of the B-Class sedans and the high-end SUVs of totally 300, 000 units. The Group will start building the Tianjin plant, covering an area of 107.8 square meters, in 2013 and put it into operation in 2015.

Reportedly, the total output value of the project that Great Wall Motor and the Tianjin Municipality have just signed is expected to reach 30 billion yuan. In addition, after the Group completes its 500,000-vehicle project and the auto parts project, capacity of the Tianjin plant in the first phase is likely to attain 300,000 units in 2011. In 2012, the Group plans to expand another 300,000 units of the capacity in the Tianjin plant and finally make an industrial output value of 100 billion yuan.

By 2015, the vehicle production capacity of the Tianjin base could reach 1- 1.2 million units, the total output value of which will be worth 250 billion yuan.

Besides, the overall capacity of Great Wall Motor will come to 2 million units, with capacity of the Baoding base (located in the southwest-central Hebei province) included, and the annual sales of the Group are expected to reach 1.8 million units by then, the Group said.