Great Wall accelerates Europe expansion with hq in Germany

BERLIN -- Great Wall has opened its European headquarters in Munich as the Chinese automaker steps up its plans to expand in the region.

The company plans to start selling cars in Europe next year after it presented a plug-in hybrid SUV from its Wey brand and a full-electric model from its Ora brand at the IAA auto show in Munich in September.

The automaker hopes establishing the office will strengthen and expand cooperation between the group's headquarters in China and regional decision-makers as well as suppliers. This also includes investments by Baoding Great Wall Holding along the supply chain.

Great Wall also plans to open brand experience centers in Munich and Berlin in 2022 as part of its plan to build a "lifestyle ecosystem" for European customers. This focus includes not only vehicles, but also charging services, maintenance and repair services, and intelligent cockpit services.

"The launch in Europe is an important milestone for Great Wall Motor," Great Wall Motor Europe CEO Qiao Xianghua said in a statement. "We have ambitious goals for this market as well."

The step is necessary for the automaker to become a globally competitive automotive company, he added.

Great Wall plans to employ 300 people at the Munich offices.

Through the Wey and Ora consumer-facing applications, the company plans to create a platform where users can interact with the brand and its products.

"With this, we want to involve our users in the product development process," Qiao's statement added. "We want to make the car an emotional, intelligent and convenient third mobile space."

In September, Johnson Qiang, Great Wall's executive vice president for Europe, told Automotive News Europe that Ora will start sales in one of Europe's five largest markets -- Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain -- or in one of the Nordic countries, which include EV-friendly Norway as well as Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Great Wall briefly produced vehicles in Europe after it opened a factory in Bulgaria in 2012 to assemble SUVs, pickups and city cars. The plant closed in 2017.

The company's strategy in Europe this time is to move away from budget models and instead target customers who might pay more for increased levels of technology.

SVOLT, a spin-off of Great Wall and now an independent high-tech company, plans to invest a total of 2 billion euros at two sites in Saarland, Germany, including a state-of-the-art battery cell factory with 24-gigawatt hours production capacity in the final expansion stage and a module and high-voltage storage factory.