BMW-Great Wall Motor JV said to be located in Changzhou

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The joint venture of Great Wall Motor (GWM) and BMW will reportedly be located in Changzhou. According to local media, GWM has conducted recruitment secretly in Changzhou recently, saying the employees will work at Jintan District, Changzhou, 55km away from Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). The move enhances the possibility of the JV's location in Jintan, Changzhou. 

Since GWM and BMW haven't signed cooperation agreement yet, local media found it difficult to get the information on both parties' cooperation framework. It is said that the local market situated at Jintan District has been removed and now the area has been circled by fence.

In addition, the local media outlet found GWM has been recruiting a variety of employees and requires the qualified candidates to have experience in construction and management of battery factories. The recruiting information also showed that GWM asks their staff-to-be should work in Baoding, Hebei Province, and then will move to Jintan District, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. These signals all proved that the JV of GWM and BMW is probably to be located in Jintan District, Changzhou.

However, GWM responded that the JV's site has not been determined yet. GWM hasn't disclosed any official information on whether the new factory will be situated in Changzhou or not.

According to their letter of intent, both parties will try their best to expose unanimous information on their JV. In addition, since the letter of intent is not a legally binding agreement, GWM and BMW will not disclose the site of JV factory during the period of cooperation intention.

Several reasons make Changzhou is a good choice to be the JV's site. Locating JV factory in Changzhou, where abounds in abundant parts suppliers, can largely reduce the logistics cost of auto parts. The geographic situation of Changzhou also makes it the most possible place for the JV, because Changzhou is very close to CATL, a battery provider for both BMW and GWM, and the city situated in the center of Yangtze River delta will enable the products to quickly arrive at the sales channels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.