Great Wall Motor sets up European headquarters in Munich

Beijing (Gasgoo)- China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM) officially set up a German subsidiary in Munich along with the European headquarters as the base camp supporting its expansion on the continent.

Photo credit: GWM

The European headquarter holds R&D, sales, and management functions. The R&D sector will focus on vehicle integration, auto parts electronic power system platform, intelligent driving, and V2X (vehicle to everything). The automaker intends to create roughly 300 jobs by 2022 in Munich.   

Local suppliers in the auto industrial chain will also benefit from GWM’s expansion. For example, the automaker’s energy subsidiary SVOLT decided to build two battery plants (cell and pack modules) in Saarland, Germany, with a €2 billion investment. Its automotive system subsidiary Nobo Auto holds ceiling plants in Überherrn and Bremen.

Photo credit: GWM

The automaker also plans to construct a lifestyle ecosystem for its European users, offering charging, maintenance, repair, intelligent cockpit active service, and used car services. 

According to the company, it plans to open up experience centers in Munich and Berlin in 2022. The automaker’s WEY Coffee 01 and ORA Cat, which were already introduced to the continent at the 2021 Munich Auto Show, will start presale soon, with expected delivery starting in the first half of 2022.

Notably, GWM has been successfully branching out overseas. In October, the company sold 14,074 vehicles outside China, surging 30.3% year on year. For the first ten months this year, accumulated export volume amounted to 112,020 vehicles, more than doubled from a year ago, by 114.3%.