| 14-01-2008 Great
Wall Motor Co, a small but ambitious Chinese automaker, plans to more than double
its number of overseas plants by the end of this decade to boost sales abroad.
Wang Fengying, chief executive officer of the Hong Kong-listed maker of sports
utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-ups, said that it would have a total of 20 overseas
factories by 2010. Currently it has eight. He also said "These plants will
help us propel our overseas sales considerably. Great Wall aims to sell more than
200,000 vehicles abroad a year by 2010. Meanwhile, we expects to lift overall
annual sales to 500,000 units from 73,580 units." Great Wall is also looking
at the EU and US markets to be an international brand in real terms. Furthermore,
Great Wall will launch its three latest models as imports in the EU in the first
half of 2008. Wang
said Great Wall plans to spend 10 billion yuan in the years to 2010 to develop
20 new models and build new facilities to achieve its sales target. The company
is awaiting government approval to produce sedans and multi-purpose vehicles.
China is encouraging domestic carmakers to speed up exports through improved quality
and design. Many other Chinese brands, such as Chery and Brilliance, are also
building more plants in foreign countries to boost overseas sales. Editor:Frederick
Wei from Chinabuses.com
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