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Since Great Wall launched the strategic goal of the global market, it has wantonly accelerated its plans to invest in factories around the world. Following the completion of Great Wall's first wholly-owned overseas manufacturing plant last year, it has been reported that Great Wall will sign a formal equity acquisition agreement with General Motors in Bangkok, Thailand.

Under the agreement, GM Thailand's Luoyong House car manufacturing plant and powertrain plant will all be handed over to Great Wall Motor in November.

In fact, Great Wall signed a legally binding terms with GM in February to launch the Thai project acquisition plan, but the agreement still needs to be approved by the government and regulators.

It is understood that the Royong manufacturing plant in Thailand is a complete vehicle manufacturing plant that GM put into use in 2000. Since it was put into production, it has produced nearly 1.4 million cars. The factory mainly produces pickups and SUV models, and its products are mainly sold to Thailand's domestic and export markets. After the delivery is completed, Great Wall Automobile will carry out intelligent transformation and upgrading of the Luo Yongfu automobile manufacturing plant and the powertrain plant.

At that time, the new plant will have both SUV and pickup production capacity and conditions to meet a variety of power production needs, including traditional fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles. According to its plan, the new plant will start production in the first quarter of 2021, with an annual production capacity of 80,000 vehicles.

According to industry analysts, Great Wall's acquisition of GM's plant in Thailand may be due to the hindrance of its plant in India. It is reported that Great Wall's acquisition of GM's Indian plant has stalled and some Chinese personnel stationed in India have been withdrawn. Compared with Thailand, the Indian market is the key to Great Wall's global strategy. Before GM signed the agreement, Great Wall entered the Indian market through the acquisition of Fiat Chrysler.

It has been reported that Great Wall has confirmed its intention to buy Fiat Chrysler, but it denies it and says it has never negotiated with Great Wall, which frustrates Great Wall's plans.

India, as a country with a large population, only Suzuki and Hyundai low-cost small cars dominate the market, so this is a broad market for Great Wall Motor, but now the agreement between the two sides has been shelved and postponed. It means that Great Wall's global strategic plan has been dealt a blow.

Great Wall Motor said that in the future, the company will focus on Thailand and export its products to other ASEAN countries and Australia and other countries.

Thailand's annual car sales in 2019 were 1007552, down 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to MarkLines. Among them, passenger vehicle sales for the whole year were 398386, down 0.3% from the same period last year; commercial vehicle sales for the whole year were 609166, down 5.1% from the same period last year, with 1-ton pick-up truck sales accounting for more than 60% of commercial vehicles. Although sales are far less than the Indian market, they will also become a new growth point.

The acquisition of GM's Luoyong factory in Thailand means another expansion of Great Wall's global layout. Liu Shangyang, vice president of global strategy of Great Wall Automobile, once said, "ASEAN is a developing automobile market, as well as a market with considerable prospects and great potential." Entering the Thai market is not only a key step for Great Wall Motor to enter the ASEAN market, but also an important measure of Great Wall Automobile's globalization strategy. "

In recent years, with the expansion of independent cars in China, it is nothing new for Chinese automobile companies to enter overseas markets one after another. Prior to this, Geely acquired a 49.9% stake in Malaysia's Proton Motor, becoming a shareholder in Proton Motor. SAIC established SAIC Zhengda Co., Ltd. in Thailand and established SAIC GM Wuling vehicle manufacturing plant in Indonesia. And sell Mingjue and other independent brand cars locally.

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