Great Wall Wants to Enter Western Europe

The expansion plans of Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor keep growing in size, as the manufacturer plans to become a more active presence in Europe. After some two weeks ago Great Wall announced it will expand its operations beyond Bulgaria and Italy, the company now comes back and says it targets two of Europe's biggest auto markets, Germany and the UK.

In an interview with Reuters, a senior Great Wall executive said the company plans to have have separate dealers in each of the European countries it will be presen in, except northern, central and eastern Europe, where there will be only one dealer.

"We are in contact with potential partners in other key European countries, such as Germany, France, Britain and Spain," the executive was quoted as saying by Reuters. "It takes time for us to break into these markets, possibly two to three years."

Xing Wenlin, general manager of the company's international trade division, said last week the company is planning its entry on a third European country very soon. The new market will most likely be a northern country.

"It will probably be a North European country, for example, Sweden, which is the most demanding and difficulty market in Europe," Wenlin said.

"It also has many strong local brands and even the Japanese and Korean brands have failed to become mainstream products there," he added about Europe as a whole.

Last year, Great Wall's exports amounted only to 35,000 vehicles, 27,000 of which were pick-ups. For now, Great Wall exports to the Middle East, Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia.