Top stories of Great Wall Motor in 2021

In 2021, China’s top SUV and pickup manufacturer Great Wall Motor saw a year-over-year increase of 15% in annual sales. During the past year, the automaker continued to expand in overseas markets.

Photo credit: Great Wall Motor

The following are some news about the group.

Great Wall Motor sees 2021 auto sales jump 15.24% YoY

Great Wall Motor boasted a 15.24% year-on-year growth with its annual auto sales reaching 1,280,993 units, the company announced earlier in January, 2021.

In December, GWM saw its new vehicle sales rise 8.17% over a year earlier to 162,369 units. The growth came after four consecutive months of year-on-year decrease in GWM's monthly sales. In terms of the sales contribution by brands, Haval outsold the other brands, accounting for up to 60% of GWM's total annual sales. The BEV-dedicated ORA was the fastest-growing one with a 140% year-on-year hike in yearly sales. Moreover, WEY was the only one whose 2021 sales were lower than the year-ago period.

Lear, Great Wall Motor inks strategic cooperation MOU

Great Wall Motor, announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding with the world-leading automotive supplier, Lear.

The cooperation signifies Great Wall Motor’s trust and recognition of Lear’s capabilities and the hope it holds towards the future achievements lying in front of the partners.

GWM’s ORA Cat caught in CPU scandal

Great Wall Motor’s ORA brand finally responded to its month-long chip dispute with a subpar compensation proposal.

Early on, several owners of the ORA Cat noticed that the actual chips mounted on their vehicles were not the high-performance Qualcomm 8 kryo CPU that the brand claimed but the Intel 4 kryo chip from 5 years ago.

On the Cat’s official product presentation webpage, it clearly stated that the vehicle offers a “professional onboard intelligent service platform from Qualcomm’s 8 kryo CPU processer, providing three times the performance from the previous generation”.

On November 10th, ORA deleted the said descriptions on its website when complaints intensified but yet to respond. By November 17th, with owners keeping demanding answers, the company finally copped to its false advertisement and released a compensation proposal to owners.

Great Wall Motor sets up European headquarters in Munich

GWM officially set up a German subsidiary in Munich along with the European headquarters as the base camp supporting its expansion on the continent.

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.

Great Wall Motor not rule out buying plant in Western Europe

As Great Wall Motor is accelerating its global business layout, it is possible for the automaker to acquire a manufacturing plant in Western Europe, sources inside the company told a local media outlet.  

Early on, foreign media reported that Great Wall Motor was actively negotiating with Spanish authorities and Nissan Motor over a possible takeover of the latter’s Barcelona plant, which was scheduled to be shut down by the end of the year.

Great Wall Motor targets annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles in Brazil

GWM has entered into agreement with Mercedes Benz to buy a factory in Brazil from the Germany automaker, the Chinese company announced in August.

Under the agreement, the factory, included land, manufacturing facilities and machines, will be handed over to GWM. The deal, expected to complete by the end of this year, is about asset transaction and does not involve personnel transfer.

GWM plans to adopt advanced production, quality management approaches in accordance with the company’s global manufacturing standard to build the plant into a smart manufacturing base, which can offer products for Brazil and other South America markets. After the retooling, the plant will have an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles and create 2000 jobs.

Great Wall Motor launches next-generation power battery 'Dayu'

During Great Wall Motor (GWM)'s 8th Tech Festival, the automaker launched its next-generation power battery dubbed “Dayu”, whose technical patents will be open to the whole auto industry for free.

The battery is designed to eradicate dangerous fire and explosion after the cells of different chemical systems come across thermal runaway. According to Li Shuhui, GWM's deputy general manager of R&D, the Dayu battery adopts the high-capacity NCM 811 battery cells and will not catch fire or explode when thermal runaway happens. To ensure the battery safety, the developer employs such technologies as multi-echelon converter system, multi-level targeted explosive disposal system, and fire extinguisher box.

GWM 2025 strategy: huge increase in sales and revenues

GWM set up an annual sales target of 4 million vehicles for 2025, and new energy vehicle (NEV) sales will account for 80% of its annual sales. In 2025, the automaker expects its revenues will be RMB 600 billion ($92.858 billion) and in the next five years, its cumulative R&D investment will be up to RMB 100 billion ($15.476 billion).

CATL, Great Wall Motor forge ten-year strategic partnership

Chinese power battery giant CATL and automaker Great Wall Motor (GWM) signed on June 2 a framework agreement for a ten-year strategic partnership, according to a posting on GWM's WeChat account.

Under the agreement, both parties will leverage their respective advantages to co-promote the progress of new energy vehicle (NEV) technologies and contribute to achieving the China's goals of carbon neutrality and emission peak.

GWM and CATL started the cooperation on the joint development of vehicle models as far back as 2016. Then both parties carried out collaboration on technology R&D and auto parts supply for such brands as Haval, WEY, and ORA.

Great Wall Motor establishes R&D subsidiary in Zhangjiagang

Great Wall Motor (GWM) set up a R&D subsidiary in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province on May 17.

According to the corporate data platform Tianyancha, the newborn company, named Zhangjiagang Great Wall Motor R&D Co.,Ltd., involves a registered capital of 100 million yuan ($15.558 million) and is wholly controlled by GWM. It has a line of businesses including the R&D of new material technologies, auto parts and software, and the sale of new energy vehicles and software.

Great Wall Holdings, Sinopec team up on hydrogen energy

Great Wall Holdings Group Limited and China's state-controlled oil firm Sinopec Group inked a framework agreement on May 12 to cooperate on hydrogen energy business, according to a posting on Great Wall Motor (GWM)'s WeChat account.

As part of efforts to promote the development of hydrogen industry, both parties will jointly boost the demonstration of fuel cell electric vehicles, construct hydrogen fueling stations or pumping stations that combine hydrogen filling and retail sales of oil, and apply hydrogen energy in such scenarios, such as the heavy-duty trucks for transporting construction materials in Xiong'an New Area, the logistics vehicles offering services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the city buses in Baoding, Hebei province.

Great Wall Motor resumes sedan business under WEY brand

Great Wall Motor (GWM) has resumed its sedan business and plans to launch the first sedan model in May under WEY brand, Li Ruifeng, vice president of GWM and general manager of WEY brand, said.

According to Mr. Li, the automaker has made an elaborate product planning for WEY brand, which includes sedans and MPVs in addition to SUVs. There will be more than 10 WEY-branded new models to be rolled out by 2023, with prices ranging from 150,000 yuan ($22,896) to 300,000 yuan ($45,792).

Great Wall Motor to plow 3 billion yuan over next 3 years in hydrogen R&D

GWM has to-day invested 2 billion yuan ($304.822 million) in the R&D of hydrogen energy business and will pour another 3 billion yuan ($457.233 million) over the next three years, the company said on March 29 at the launching ceremony for its hydrogen strategy.

Meanwhile, the company announced it will launch its first hydrogen fuel cell SUV model and roll out 100 hydrogen heavy trucks this year.

Great Wall Motor to spin off TANK series into standalone brand

GWM is about to separate the TANK series from its premium SUV brand WEY, aiming to develop TANK as a standalone off-road vehicle marque, Wei Jianjun, chairman of GWM, said at the China Automotive Innovation Conference (AII) on March 21. The decision will be announced at the Auto China 2021 to be held next month.

GWM applied for trademark registration for TANK in December 2020, according to the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), sparking the industry's speculation that TANK would be spun off into an independent brand parallel with Haval, WEY, GWM POER Pickup and ORA.

Great Wall Motor to raise up to 8 billion yuan for new model, auto digitalization R&D

GWM intends to issue convertible bonds worth not more than 8 billion yuan ($1.235 billion) with the net proceeds to be evenly invested in the R&D of new vehicle models and automobile digitalization, according to an announcement the automaker released as a reply to the questions from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The new vehicle models include four SUVs, two pickups and three new energy vehicles, which involve 2.094 billion ($323.313 million), 883 million ($136.335) and 1.023 billion ($157.951 million) of capital raised respectively.

Great Wall Motor hits 10-million-unit production milestone for complete vehicles

The 10 millionth complete vehicle of Great Wall Motor (GWM) rolled off the production line at the automaker's Xushui plant on Jan. 19, making GWM the first SUV-/pickup-focused Chinese automaker achieving such a remarkable output volume.

The significant vehicle is a third-generation Haval H6 SUV. It has been collected and exhibited by Beijing Auto Museum. The first-generation hit the market in 2011 and became the best-selling SUV model by monthly sales for the first time in September 2012. As of Jan. 2021, the Haval H6 had been crowned the No.1 SUV model in China for 80 months in total.