- GWM's Brazilian plant will have an initial production capacity of 30,000 vehicles per year, which will increase to 50,000 by 2028.
- The factory was previously owned by Mercedes-Benz and was acquired by GWM in 2021.
Great Wall Motor (GWM) will begin production at its Brazil plant on August 15, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and GWM chairman Wei Jianjun attending the ceremony, according to a report by Brazilian automotive media outlet AutoIndústria on August 5.
GWM's first model assembled in Brazil, the Haval H6 SUV, will be unveiled at the event, according to the report.
The factory's welding and painting lines are already operational, and 530 employees have been hired, including 145 office and administrative staff.
The factory is expected to begin double-shift operations by the end of this year, with a total of 1,000 employees, according to the report.
Initial production capacity will be 30,000 units per year, increasing to 50,000 units by 2028, the report said.
Localization rates will be low in the first year, but the company aims to reach a local procurement rate of around 35 percent by the second year, according to Ricardo Bastos, director of institutional affairs at GWM Brazil, as cited by AutoIndústria.
The factory was previously owned by Mercedes-Benz, which ceased vehicle production in Brazil in 2021.
GWM announced in August 2021 that it had signed an agreement with Daimler Group to acquire the Iracemápolis plant in Brazil.
The plant would have an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles after renovation, creating nearly 2,000 jobs locally, GWM said at the time.
In February 2022, the Daimler brand was renamed Mercedes-Benz.
GWM will be the latest Chinese automaker to begin producing passenger vehicles in Brazil. Its local peer BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) started production at its passenger vehicle plant in Brazil on July 1.
The first phase of the BYD plant is planned to have an annual production capacity of 150,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs), with the first model to be produced being the Seagull compact EV.
Like BYD, GWM has also seen significant growth in overseas sales over the past few years, although the growth rate has slowed this year.
GWM sold 41,088 vehicles overseas in July, up 7.60 percent year-on-year and up 2.55 percent month-on-month.
The company sold 238,746 vehicles overseas in the first seven months of the year, roughly flat compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
