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Great Wall Motors ORA Cat Car at 42nd BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW 2021 on April 3, 2021 in Bangkok - Copyright totojang1977 @ AdobeStock

Great Wall Motor on the way to Europe

The homeland of the automobile is becoming increasingly attractive for the image of international automobile groups. With the decision to build the Giga Factory in Germany, Elon Musk made a clear commitment to Germany as a business location. Due to the great tradition in automobile construction, Germany as a location offers an excellently developed supplier industry, technically experienced engineers and, above all, an audience of car fans. No wonder, then, that the established Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor Co. has now opened the doors to its European office in the Bavarian capital. All activities for the European market are to be coordinated from here.

Internationally, Great Wall Motor Co. is not yet one of the big players in the automotive industry, but the company, founded in 1984, has recently made an interesting debut at the IAA 2021 in Munich with the presentation of the premium brand WEY and the sporty brand ORA. According to Qiao Xianghua, CEO of Great Wall Motor Europe, this entry marks an important milestone.

Cooperation between the group headquarters and regional decision-makers and suppliers will be decisive in the long term. Great Wall Holding's investments in the supply chain will contribute to this: SVOLT, a tech company spun off from Great Wall Motor, is planning to invest a total of two billion euros in the two construction projects in Überherrn and Heusweiler in Saarland. A state-of-the-art cell factory with a production capacity of 24 GWh is planned in the final stage of construction, and a module and high-voltage storage factory is also to be built.

The focus should be on the customers

According to CEO Qiao, the focus is on customer orientation. The experiences and wishes of consumers should be taken into account. The medium for this is a co-creation community for the brands WEY and ORA. Customers should interact directly with the manufacturer via app solutions.

GWM will set up a co-creation community: With the WEY and ORA apps, the company wants to create a platform on which users can interact with the brand and its products. Brand Experience Centers in Munich and Berlin will be an important interface between manufacturers and customers. GWM is building a lifestyle ecosystem for European users that will not only offer quality products, but also charging service, maintenance and repair service, intelligent cockpit service and much more.

Two brands are at the start

In the course of its European expansion, the company is continuously increasing the number of employees at its headquarters in Munich. The team consists mainly of international experts and top talents from German premium car manufacturers and is expected to grow to around 300 people. GWM starts with two brands from the group: Ora and Wey. The focus is on growth and plans to sell 2025 million vehicles worldwide annually by 4. Similar to Tesla, a car factory is obviously to be built in Europe, but first the market has to be created. In the luxury segment, the manufacturer is starting in Europe with the luxury brand in the SUV sector Wey. With the sonorous name Coffee 01, a 4,90 m long plug-in hybrid can be purchased in the luxury segment for 50.000 euros. A somewhat more compact Coffee 02, on the other hand, is to follow for around 30.000 euros.

ORA Cat at the IAA 2021 - Copyright green car magazine
ORA Cat at the IAA 2021 – Copyright green car magazine

The electric car segment is served by the Ora brand, which will start in spring 2022 with the Cat 01 model presented at the IAA. With compact exterior dimensions and an appealing, sporty appearance, the five-door offers a powerful 171 hp electric motor coupled with a 63 kWh battery for a range of around 400 kilometers. The model can be seen as a competitor to the ID-3 and starts at 30.000 euros

Registration figures for the Ora brand in China from 2018 to 2021

Yearnew vehicle registrationsgrowthMarket share
20183515
2019388651005,00%0.18%
20205626145,00%0.29%
2021135028140,00%0.64%

Ora Brand Market Share in China – Source – Carsalesbase, Figures from the CAAM association

Addendum

Cover Photo - Great Wall Motors ORA Cat Car at 42nd BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW 2021 on April 3, 2021 in Bangkok - Copyright totojang1977 @ AdobeStock

What do you think of the ORA Cat?

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