AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)12/14 Report--

On December 14, several media reported that Great Wall would abandon its acquisition of the Nissan plant in Barcelona, Spain, which is scheduled to close by the end of the year. So far, Great Wall has not made any response.

Great Wall is the main competitor to buy the plant, which is scheduled to close by the end of the year. If Great Wall abandons the acquisition of Nissan's Spanish plant, about 1600 workers are expected to be out of work. It is undoubtedly a big blow to the Spanish authorities.

It is understood that the factory in Barcelona, Spain is one of Nissan's main factories in Europe, employing a total of 2400 employees, coupled with related facilities, the total staff size is about 3000 people. Spain, as the second largest automobile producer in Europe, has a strong automobile industry. However, due to the poor performance of Nissan in 2020, the Renault-Nissan alliance formulated a new global restructuring strategy, the European market is dominated by Renault, and Nissan plans to close three plants in Spain in December 2020. the plan was delayed for a year because of the intervention of the Spanish government.

As we all know, the European market is the world's most difficult to enter the car market, Lexus, Cadillac and other luxury brands have entered the European market, but did not achieve the desired results. In early October this year, Great Wall said it would buy the Nissan plant in Barcelona, Spain, and expressed a positive attitude. At that time, many people in the industry said: if Great Wall succeeds in winning the factory, it will become the first Chinese carmaker to make Chinese-branded cars in Western Europe.

At the end of November, Spanish media Ara reported that Great Wall considered abandoning the acquisition after visiting its factory in Barcelona because the plant could not meet its production plans in Europe. Great Wall had previously said that production could only be carried out at the previous Nissan plant under certain conditions, and its initial forecast was to rapidly increase annual production from the planned 150000 to 300000. If the above news is true, Great Wall Motor may have abandoned the acquisition of the plant because it was unable to achieve higher production. Of course, this is only speculation, and Great Wall has not yet responded to the report.

The overseas market is one of the most important markets for Great Wall Motors. Prior to this, Great Wall Motor completed four overseas full-process vehicle plants in just a few years, including Tula in Russia, Luo Yong in Thailand, Talegang in India, and Brazil. At present, its factories have been radiated to Eastern Europe, ASEAN, Southeast Asia and America.

In November, Great Wall took ownership of GM's Luoyong plant in Thailand, and in August, Great Wall acquired Mercedes-Benz's plant in Brazil, further promoting Great Wall's transformation into a global technology travel company. Great Wall said delivery of the Brazilian plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 100000 vehicles. In addition, the Thai user experience Center of Great Wall Motor was officially completed and opened to the public in October this year, which is the first user experience center established overseas by Great Wall Motors. In November this year, Great Wall Motor also opened a German subsidiary and set up its European headquarters in Munich. Its models such as WEY Coffee 01 and ORA Cat will also be pre-sold, and the new car will be delivered in the first half of 2022. In the Thai market, its products have also penetrated into a number of market segments, and a number of new cars are expected to be launched.

According to the latest data, Great Wall Motor sold 15006 vehicles in overseas markets in November and 127026 vehicles from January to November, an increase of 106.3 percent over the same period last year. According to the data, the overall sales volume has increased. However, according to Great Wall Motor's strategic goal of achieving overseas sales of 1 million vehicles by 2025, it still seems to be somewhat difficult.

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