Great Wall Motors to Launch Independent Brand for Fuel-Cell Passenger Vehicles

China’s leading SUV manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) has completed its product planning stage for hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars and plans to launch them under an independent high-end brand. According to an insider close to the company, “The brand and products of Great Wall Motors’ hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars are all set. The subsidiary was originally planned to be launched in the second quarter of this year, but is now estimated to be postponed until the end of the year due to pandemic situations”, Cailian Press reported.

“The Hydrogen energy vehicle will not be placed under the Saloon brand, but appear in the future in its own unique way in line with the commercialization ecosystem of the hydrogen energy industry.” Although no more information was disclosed, some insiders confirmed the existence of the independent brand planned for fuel cell passenger cars.

On March 29 last year, the GWM Hydrogen Energy Strategy Global Launch was held, putting on display its hydrogen energy R&D achievements to the world. Relying on its Hydrogen Energy Strategy, Great Wall Motors will attach equal importance to “both commercial and passenger” vehicles, promote technological and industrial development, and accelerate the implementation of its products. It also announced the technical core pillar of the strategy – “Hydrogen-L.E.M.O.N. Technology”. In addition, the company will invest another 3 billion yuan in the R&D of hydrogen energy, so as to be able to scale to 10,000 sets of production capacity.

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“This year, GWM will launch the world’s first SUV with a Class C hydrogen fuel cell and take the lead in implementing one hundred 49-ton hydrogen energy heavy trucks around the world; 2022 will see the first service fleet of high-end passenger cars on the arena of the Olympic Winter Games; in 2023, we will become a leader domestically in terms of the number of core power components developed in-house; and, moreover, we will ride into top three in the global hydrogen market by 2025”, Zhang Tianyu, chairman of GWM FTXT Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said last year at the company’s Global Launch.

According to GWM Chairman Wei Jianjun’s initial plan, the fuel cell SUV planned to be launched at the end of last year and had placed under the high-end smart brand, Saloon, which itself was only launched at last year’s Guangzhou Auto Show. However, due to the adjustment of internal planning, this product was eventually removed from the Saloon brand.

“At that time, considering the lack of preparations for the brand, products and some other aspects, and to clarify the pure-electric positioning of the Saloon brand, such a decision was made.” GWM insiders explained, “At present, the fuel cell passenger car department is independent, with ready products and premium positioning.”