[2024-01-23] China’s GWM says it has decided to start production in Brazil with SUVs

Source: Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao)

Great Wall Motor (GWM), the Chinese car brand, updated its plan for local production of electrified cars during a meeting on the afternoon of 20 January with Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.

The car maker, which intends to invest R$10 billion over ten years in Brazil, is on schedule to start production in May, still in the test phase, at the factory acquired from Mercedes-Benz in Iracemápolis, in the interior of São Paulo. There has, however, been an adjustment to the programme of models that will be assembled at the plant.

Instead of a pick-up truck, as previously planned, GWM will start production with a hybrid SUV from the Haval range. The gradual return, as of this month, of the tax on imported hybrid and electric cars led the carmaker to bring forward the local production of its best-selling product in the Brazilian market.