The History Of Great Wall Motors And Our Expectations

The History of Great Wall Motors

• Established in 1984, the Great Wall Motors Company Limited is a Chinese automaker that is named after the glorious Great Wall of China. Currently headquartered in Baoding, GWM is a name that has carved a niche for itself in the Chinese market.
• In its early days, GWM manufactured only trucks and no passenger vehicles. In 2010, things changed when GWM produced its first sedan, and the company marked its journey of producing passenger vehicles.
• The company now sells passenger cars and trucks under the Great Wall branding and SUVs under the Haval and WEY branding.
• In terms of overseas manufacturing, the Great Wall Motor’s first overseas manufacturing unit was based in Bulgaria and was made operational in 2012. With the Bulgarian facility as its centre, the company started exporting knocked-down kits to countries such as Iran, Egypt, Russia and many more.
• Talking about an international presence, the GWM has a stronghold in as many as 60 countries around the globe. And to cater to this huge demand, the company now boasts five assembly plants and nine manufacturing facilities throughout the world.
• This means that the brand has enough practical experience and marketing know-how to serve a tailor-made experience in India. And that’s not all GWM also has a research facility, set up in Bengaluru since 2016.

Plans for India

• With a vision to take over General Motor’s Talegaon plant and to invest over ₹7,000 Crores in India, GWM announced its aim for a phased investment back in January 2020.
• As per the company the investments were being made to cater purposes such as vehicle RnD, manufacturing plants, component manufacturing as well as EV and battery production.
• Following its visionary announcement, the brand showcased its glorious Haval SUV range- the F7X, F7, F5, and H9, at the Auto Expo 2020. All of these vehicles were production vehicles that were already being sold like hot-cakes around the globe. Apart from these, the company also displayed its electric mini-hatch; the GWM R1.
• But with the Coronavirus taking over the world coupled with a bitter Indo-China relationship, the company’s blueprint to make a debut in the Indian market was majorly derailed.
• But if reports are to be believed, GWM is now prepping up again to enter the Indian market very soon. And has started recruited the industry’s capable names to build an Indian workforce. If all this is true, we can expect to see GWM’s exceptional SUVs hitting the Indian market very soon.

What can we expect out of the Great Wall Motors?

• Whether or not the Indian run of the company becomes a success, is something only time will decide. But no matter what the fate of the company is, based on its plans to heavily localize in India, India as an economy is sure to gain a profit in the form of revenue and employment.
• And once the company enters India through its range of SUVs, the fit, finish and engine options of these SUVs will give the forerunners in the various SUV segments a run for their money.
• GWM is also known to make feature loaded vehicles around the globe. And if this trend is followed here in India as well then features like traffic jam assistance and lane-keeping assistance can become the new trend in the Indian market.
• Even in the EV game, if vehicles such as the R1 that are priced at RMB 59,800, are launched. It will encourage the entire EV sentiment. Also, since the R1 uses a 35 kWh battery and a claimed range of 300 kmph, GWM can actually void the gap that is created by the Tata Nexon’s low range spectrum.

With that said, it is only a matter of time that we could really know if GWM will make its way into the Indian market and whether or not it’ll be a success.

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