Great Wall to launch first model for Wey brand in April

China's largest crossover maker, Great Wall Motor Co., will unveil the production version of its first crossover under its newly crafted Wey premium brand in April.

The new crossover will be priced from 150,000 to 200,000 yuan ($21,800-$29,100), the company said. Additional details about the vehicle haven't been disclosed.

Great Wall unveiled the new brand, Wey, last week at the Guangzhou auto show. The brand is named after Great Wall founder and Chairman Wei Jianjun. Wey and Wei are pronounced the same in Chinese.

It also unveiled two Wey-badged concept compact crossovers, the 01 and 02, at the show

The new Wey brand represents Great Wall's renewed effort to move upscale.

Two years ago, the company launched two pricier SUVs, the H8 and H9, under its Haval brand. Each had a starting price of 200,000 yuan, but sales of the two SUVs have remained limited.

In the first ten months of the year, Great Wall's deliveries rose 19 percent year on year to 794,836 vehicles.  But 54 percent of the volume was generated by the Haval H6, a compact crossover with a starting price of 80,000 yuan. 

In the same period, H8 sales dropped 14 percent year on year to 5,967 vehicles, while H9 deliveries slumped 25 percent to 9,032 vehicles. 

Great Wall, headquartered in Baoding in north China's Hebei province, is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai.