Great Wall Motors, a leading non-government automobile company of China, has intentions of setting up a manufacturing plant in India.
Great Wall Motors (GWM) is like the Mahindra & Mahindra of China who specialize in making SUVs. Their products are exported to more than 100 countries. They have 800 sales outlets across about 80 countries all over the world.
With presence in markets such as Europe, central and South America, Asia, Africa, Russia, Australia, South Africa, Italy and Chile the company employs over 48,000 employees.
The Chinese company came to India to meet officials of Gujarat for a possible land acquisition. They were shown land in Sanand and Halol which are upcoming autohubs of India. Great Wall could invest about Rs 2,000-3,000 crore in the plant in Gujarat. The company is also said be in talks with the Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu state for a prospective production site.
When the Great Wall Haval H5 was seen testing in India, rumors were that Sonalika (the makers of Rhino MUV) partnered with Great Wall to bring the Haval H5 in India. We have seen a few Indo-Chinese partnerships/products in recent times such as Premier Rio, Force One, HM Winner, etc. However, the rumor soon fizzled out with no further sightings of H5 test mules.
It is quite possible that the deal between Great Wall and Sonalika may have fallen through and GWM is looking for a solo foray in India.
[Source: BSMotoring.com; Images of the Great Wall H4 from auto.ifeng.com]
