By Amanda Zheng August 13, 2010
Shanghai August 13 (Gasgoo.com) China's Great Wall Motor is planning to cooperate with Philippine National Motor to set up a production base in Philippines and put the base into operation by the end of this year, media reported Friday.
Philippine National Motor, a Great Wall dealer in Philippines, used to sell the Chinese automaker's SUVs and pickups in the local market for a long time.
The new production base is expected to be up and running at the end of this year with projected annual capacity of 10,000 vehicles. The products to be manufactured first would be Great Wall's Hover SUVs and Fengjun pickups. If initial success is achieved, the company will import sedans to Philippines for local production and sales.
If all goes as planned, Great Wall will become the first among the domestic automakers to achieve localization in the Philippine market.
At present, SAIC-GM-Wuling, General Motors' mini commercial vehicle joint venture in China with SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, and Zhong Tong Bus have entered the Philippine market through dealerships, but neither of them has a production base there.
Moreover, Great Wall already built its second assembly plant in Vietnam last year, bringing a great impact on the local market with quality products and competitive prices. The Chinese independent automaker is now accelerating its expansion in the Southeast Asian market.
Great Wall has also built assembly plants in Russia, India, Iran, Vietnam and Egypt through cooperation with its local partners. In the first half of this year, the company sold 170,000 vehicles, up nearly 88% over the same period last year, and exported about 30,000 vehicles.
Great Wall explores Southeast Asian market - China automotive news
Fengjun Pickup
Hover SUV