Currently reading: China's Great Wall: 'UK sales crucial'
Production set to begin in Bulgaria; UK sales push from 2015

Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors has officially confirmed that the UK plays a key role in its plans to begin production and sales of selected models within the Europe Union.

In an interview at the recent Guangzhou motor show, the company’s marketing director, Wang Shihui, confirmed Great Wall Motors was close to finalizing a new production plant in Lowetsch, Bulgaria that will provide the basis for a concerted sales push in the UK from 2015 onwards.

Set to go into commission next February, the first Chinese car maker to establish a production base in Europe will assemble the Great Wall Motors Voleex C10 for sale in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey – initially at a conservative rate of just 8000 cars per year but planned to rise to 50,000 annually by 2015.

In the second phase of its plan to further infiltrate the European car market, Wang says Great Wall Motors has identified Norway, Sweden and England as potential key markets. “We want to go into these markets, the faster, the better,” Wang told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung.

Along with the Voleex C10, Great Wall Motors is also planning to assemble the Hover H5 SUV and Steed at its new Bulgarian plant.

Greg Kable

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