Great Wall Motor Unveils European Headquarters in Munich
Last Thursday, Chinese automobile manufacturer Great Wall Motor (GWM) announced the official opening of its German subsidiary in Munich. The new office will be the headquarters of the company’s European market while a new GWM Experience Center is scheduled to open in Berlin in 2022.
The European headquarters of GWM will cover R&D, sales and management. The R&D will focus on vehicle integration, component development, electronic powertrain platforms, intelligent driving and internet-connected vehicle systems. Meanwhile, the Great Wall Motor Munich team will continue to expand and is estimated to increase to about 300 personnel by the beginning of 2022.
The establishment of a GWM European headquarters will strengthen and expand the cooperation between the company and other suppliers, including promoting investment in upstream and downstream supply chains. The EV power battery manufacturer SVOLT, a subsidiary of Great Wall Motor, has officially selected Saarland, Germany to build two battery factories with a total investment of 2 billion euros ($2.24 billion). Another subsidiary Nobo Auto has ceiling production bases in Überherrn and Bremen.
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The new Great Wall Motor Experience Center is planned to open in Munich and Berlin in 2022, which is considered to be the core contact link between Great Wall Motor and its customers. The smart models WEY Coffee 01 and ORA Cat have already been exhibited at the Munich Auto Show 2021, and the vehicle’s pre-sale will be opened soon. The first batch of these vehicles are scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2022.
GWM Ora Europe CEO Qiao Xianghua said: “The European market is the focus of Great Wall Motor’s development strategy. The company will deliver the most advanced green and smart cars to Europe, and will also establish a localization R&D center and production base in Europe.”