Great Wall Motor
Great Wall Motor Company Limited, trading as GWM, is a Chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Baoding, Hebei, China. Named after the Great Wall of China, the company largely produces sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks, as well as trucks. It is one of the top ten Chinese automobile manufacturers, with 1.23 million vehicles sold globally in 2024. In 2020, GWM ranked 128th on China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands by World Brand Lab with a brand value of 50.752 billion yuan.
GWM was founded in 1984 as a small manufacturer partly owned by a local government in Hebei. Wei Jianjun, GWM's current chairman was appointed as the company director in 1990, and grew the company as one of the leading pickup truck manufacturers in China. In 1998, the company was privatized and went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2003.
The company manufactures and sells vehicles under multiple brands, including GWM, Haval, Wey, Tank, Poer, and Ora. In addition to automobiles, it produces touring motorcycles under the Souo brand. Since 2019, GWM has also operated a joint venture with BMW Group to produce electric Mini vehicles in China, under the name Spotlight Automotive.
History
1984–2003: Establishment and early years
GWM began as a agricultural vehicle repair workshop called Great Wall Repair Factory in Baoding, Hebei. The workshop was founded in 1976 by Wei Deliang, the uncle of the current chairman Wei Jianjun, in collaboration with the local government of Nandayuan Township. By 1984, the workshop began producing his own commercial vehicles based on the Beijing BJ212, including small trucks called the CC130 and a large SUV, the CC513. Wei Deliang renamed the company Great Wall Industry Company.After graduating high school, Wei Jianjun worked briefly in a micromotor factory in Beijing, and later at a carpet factory. In 1986, he joined a company owned by Wei Deyi, his father, which focused on metal construction, water pipes, and heating parts. In 1989, he and his father founded Taihang Dongwei Automotive Suspension, focusing on designing vehicle suspensions. In 1989, Wei Deliang died in a car accident. As the Great Wall Industry Company was a cooperative, the company reverted to local community ownership. At the time, the business was struggling with few technically trained workers and some debts. The Nandayuan Township council sought a new director to run the company on their behalf. At the age of 26, Wei Jianjun applied for the position, viewing it as an opportunity to pursue his interest in cars. In July 1990, he was appointed director for five years and left his father's company.
Upon taking charge, Wei Jianjun started developing passenger cars, and taught himself automotive engineering with his team. By 1993, Great Wall produced several models based on existing designs, such as the Nissan Cedric and Toyota Crown, labeled CC1020 and CC1020S respectively. The company also developed variants like station wagons and pickups. Other early Great Wall models includes a BJ212-based crew cab pickup, a BJ212-based station wagon, the CC6490, a small sedan known as the Hawk CC6470 and a clone of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spur. However, new national regulations forced Great Wall to end passenger car production by the end of 1994. Recognizing the potential of pickup trucks globally, Wei Jianjun developed a model based on the Toyota Hilux. In 1996, Great Wall launched the Great Wall Deer, priced competitively and was considered of good quality. The Deer's success made Great Wall the leading pickup producer in China. In October 1997, the first Great Wall pickup trucks were exported to the Middle East.
In 1998, the local government privatized the company, forming Great Wall Motor Group Co. Ltd., with Wei Jianjun owning 25% of the shares. By 2001, the Wei family owned 56%, while the Nandayuan Township retained the rest. Great Wall expanded its pickup range with models like the Sailor and SoCool, and ventured into SUVs with the Safe, Sing, and Pegasus models.
In 1999, Great Wall faced a supply chain crisis when its sole engine supplier partnered with competitor Brilliance Auto, limiting supply to Great Wall. To secure their supply chain, Wei Jianjun established the Great Wall Internal Combustion Engine Company, holding a 51% stake, and invested in advanced equipment for independent engine production. Over the next two years, he formed over ten holding companies through mergers and acquisitions to produce various automobile parts.
2003–2018: Initial public offering, exports and new brands
GWM was the first private Chinese auto manufacturer to become a public company, by making an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 15 December 2003. In 2006, GWM introduced the Haval CUV in 2006, which was exported to Asian, Russian, and South American markets. The Haval platform also supported the Wingle pickup, which became popular in export markets. GWM started selling vehicles in Europe in 2006, offering small vans. In September 2006, 500 units of Haval CUVs were exported to Italy for the first time, marking the first time a privately owned Chinese car company exported cars to Europe in large quantities. GWM products were first available in the Australian market in 2009. In 2011, GWM opened a factory in Bulgaria that assembles three different models from knock-down kits.During this period, GWM's passenger cars often resembled models from other carmakers. GWM launched several models between 2006 and 2010, including the Peri and the Voleex series. Numerous legal disputes over intellectual property followed, with varied outcomes. In China, Fiat's case against the Peri was rejected due to insufficient visual differences, while in Italy, the sale of the Peri was prohibited. GWM defended their practices as necessary for catching up with international competitors.
On 28 September 2011, GWM went public again, this time on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, merging the equity portfolios of the Wei family and Nandayuan Township into a single investment fund. This IPO established the company’s current corporate structure.
In the midst of producing numerous copycat vehicles, GWM introduced the Haval H6 at the 2010 Guangzhou Auto Show, which was notable for not being a direct copy of other carmaker's model. The crossover SUV quickly became GWM's major success, catering to the growing Chinese middle-class family market with its spacious interior and above-average build quality. It found success nationwide, particularly in urban and coastal regions. Since its launch, the H6 has led the SUV segment in China for 103 consecutive months, or around 8 years., GWM has sold more than 4 million H6 globally.
With the success of the Haval H6, GWM achieved massive growth, with net profit increasing sevenfold in five years. It became one of the first carmaker to fully concentrate on the SUV segment as its popularity began to grow. This shift also marked the launch of Haval as a brand in March 2013, which only sells SUVs. The company quickly phased out sedans and hatchbacks, except for the Voleex C30 which lasted until 2016. This strategy proved highly successful, with GWM producing over one million cars annually for the first time by 2016. The company later introduced several new Haval models, positioned both above and below the H6. By 2018, there were at least ten Haval H6 derivatives.
In April 2017, GWM introduced a third brand, Wey, named after Wei Jianjun's family name. Positioned as the group’s premium brand, Wey delivered more luxurious crossovers and SUVs than Haval.
In the electric vehicle segment, GWM through its battery business unit conducted pre-research on battery production since 2012. in October 2016, the company launched its first electric vehicle, the Great Wall C30EV. In 2017, in order to offset the company's fleet average fuel consumption in China, GWM acquired a 25% stake of Hebei Yujie Vehicle Industry, a major company in the low-speed electric vehicle market. The collaboration led to the establishment of Linktour Automobile, which initially converted some LSEVs to automobiles. The Linktour K-One electric crossover launched shortly after but failed in the market. By 2019, Linktour faced financial difficulties, leading to production halts and eventual bankruptcy. In February 2018, GWM spun off its battery business unit into an independent battery manufacturer, SVOLT Energy Technology Co., Ltd or commonly known as SVOLT. GWM in 2018 also created its own electric vehicle brand, Ora. While its first model, the Ora iQ, had limited success, the Ora Black Cat dominated small electric car sales.
2018–present: Global expansion
In 2018, GWM signed a joint venture agreement with BMW, establishing Spotlight Automotive to produce electric Mini in China for the global market.In this period, GWM has been investing in overseas markets to increase its manufacturing footprint and sales outside China. In June 2019, GWM's Russian factory in the Uzlovaya industrial park in Tula went operational after being under construction since 2015. It was the largest investment project from a Chinese manufacturing industry in Russia.
In January 2020, GWM agreed to purchase one of two plants owned by General Motors India located in Talegaon, Maharashtra as part of the company's aim to manufacture and sell cars in India. The company participated at the Auto Expo in February 2020, which was held in Greater Noida. The company had proposed an investment of US$1 billion and planned to start manufacturing in 2021. In July 2022, GWM cancelled its Indian investment plans due to failure of obtaining regulatory approvals, caused by the Indian government stance towards Chinese investments amid the ongoing Sino-Indian border dispute.
In February 2020, GWM reached a deal with General Motors to purchase the General Motors Thailand plant in Rayong province. It began production in the first quarter of 2021 with an annual production capacity of 80,000 units.
File:2020 TANK 300.jpg|thumb|The Tank 300 is the first product from GWM's Tank brand.
In 2020, Great Wall Motor rebranded to GWM. In March 2021, GWM spun off the Tank brand, which was previously a model line within the Wey brand. Tank-branded vehicles are body-on-frame SUVs based on the Tank platform.
After participating in European auto shows such as the International Motor Show Germany in 2019 and 2021, GWM opened its European headquarters in Munich, Germany in November 2021 as an effort to expand sales in Europe with Wey and Ora brands. In May 2024, GWM announced that it is closing its European headquarters by 31 August 2024 due to its low sales in the region. In 2023, the company sold just 6,300 vehicles in Europe, or 2% of its overseas sales. GWM vehicles will still be available in Europe, however its European operations will be controlled directly from China.In November 2023, GWM announced an adjustment of its multi-brand strategy for export markets, naming the new strategy "One GWM". GWM will be a "master brand", while its brands such as Haval, Ora and Wey were downgraded to a sub-brand status. This adjustment led to the renaming of the Ora Funky Cat to the GWM Ora 03, and the Ora Next Cat to the GWM Ora 07 for some markets. In mid-2024, GWM started replacing the Haval wordmark at the rear of its vehicles in favour of a "GWM" wordmark badge, starting with the 2024 Haval Jolion in Australia.
On January 2026, Great Wall Motor officially launched the Guiyuan Platform at its Baoding, Hebei. The platform proposes a "one vehicle, multiple powertrains" approach, which is compatible with five powertrain types: Plug-in Hybrid, Hybrid, Battery Electric, Fuel Cell, and ICE. It integrates the Coffee EEA 4.0 electronic and electrical architecture, AI OS in-vehicle system, dual VLA large model, and bionic motion control system.