GWM to launch Brazilian EV plant by May 2024

Chinese private-sector auto manufacturer Great Wall Motor (GWM) plans to launch a new energy vehicle (NEV) production plant in Brazil by 1 May 2024.

The plant is located in southwest Brazil's Iracemapolis in the state of Sao Paulo. It will have a design capacity of 100,000 units/yr at full capacity. GWM will launch a modernisation restructuring and expansion of the plant in the first half of this year.

"GWM's Brazil plant will be the first NEV plant in Brazil to specialise in hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs)," said Brazil's vice-president Geraldo Alckmin. "Brazil's new industrialisation must involve decarbonisation and innovation and create more sustainable and efficient production methods. There is a synergy between the Brazilian auto industry, represented by GWM, and the Brazilian government."

In addition to meeting Brazil's domestic demand for vehicle electrification and intellectualisation, GWM's Brazil plant will be the company's fourth-largest overseas production complex, aiming to expand its business to the whole NEV market in Latin America, GWM said.

GWM plans to roll out its pick-up model using hybrid ethanol fuel from its Brazilian plant. The firm's research and development teams have been working on combining the efficiency of electric motors with ethanol, which is prominent in Brazil. GWM will invest more than 10bn real ($2bn) in the next 10 years to finance its operations, including hydrogen-powered vehicles, in Brazil.

GWM has been accelerating its production capacity layout outside China in the past few years. It acquired the Iracemapolis plant in August 2021 from German vehicle manufacturer Daimler. It also launched in June 2021 a plant in Thailand with an 80,000 units/yr capacity for oil-fuelled vehicles, plug-in hybrid EVs and EVs, as well as the Tula complex in Russia with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles/yr.

GWM sold 1.06mn vehicles in 2022, down by 17pc from a year earlier, including 131,800 NEVs. Its overseas vehicle sales increased by 23pc to 172,200 units over the same period.

Argus forecast global EV sales will rise to more than 37mn units by 2028 from 18.1mn units in 2024, driven by decarbonisation targets set by national governments, with strong growth initially from the Asia-Pacific market and then from emerging markets.