Over the past twenty-odd years, China has expanded its foothold in overseas markets everywhere. The country is also pushing its controversial Belt and Road Initiative across Asia and Europe. A new report from Reuters indicates that China’s Great Wall Motors is investing $1.9 billion into the Brazilian electric car market.
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Great Wall Motors says it will build electric vehicles in a factory it has taken over from Daimler AG in Brazil. The company makes most of China’s trucks and plans on launching ten new electric cars in three years in Brazil. Only four of those vehicles are planned fully electric, while the other six will be hybrids.
The vehicles will be built from its new factory in the city of Iracemapolis in Sao Paulo state, which it officially took over on Thursday.
Great Wall Motors said it would put the plant into operation in the second half of next year, and that it expected it to produce 100,000 units a year and create 2,000 local jobs.
Daimler sold the former Mercedes Benz factory to Great Wall for an undisclosed sum last August in a deal that marked the Chinese automaker’s arrival in Latin America’s largest economy.
Global sales are key for Great Wall, which sold 1.28 million vehicles last year and aims to deliver four million cars a year in 2025.
Reuters
Great Wall Motors electric cars are branded Ora, and the image above is the company’s concept vehicle called the Great Wall Ora Futurist. Image courtesy of Motor1.
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