Wang Fengying, president of Great Wall Motor, disclosed yesterday that Great Wall Motor’s Bulgarian KD (parts assembly) plant was formally in operation. The plant was jointly invested by Great Wall Motors and Bulgarian Litex Motors, with a design capacity of 50,000 vehicles. This is also the first automobile parts assembly plant established by Chinese automobile brands in EU countries.

The factory is located in Bahovica, on the outskirts of the city of Lovech, about 150 km from the Bulgarian capital Sofia. According to the plan, the factory covers an area of ​​about 500,000 square meters, and the designed production capacity is 50,000. The first model to be assembled is Ling Ao, and the assembly production of Fengjun 5, Great Wall C20R and Haval H6 will be gradually realized in the later period. Great Wall Motor plans to use this as a base to gradually expand its market share in the EU.

In March 2006, Great Wall opened a spare parts assembly plant in Russia and became the first Chinese car company to carry out assembly operations overseas. At present, there are more than 10 Great Wall Motor overseas spare parts assembly plants. By 2015, its overseas spare parts assembly plant will reach 24, and the designed annual production capacity will reach 500,000. However, Wang Fengying is not optimistic about the prospects for the internationalization of Chinese brand cars. “At present, the international development of Chinese automobiles still lacks a unified strategic plan and industry guidance. The understanding, positioning, strategic objectives, and action strategies of companies for internationalization are also quite different. They are expressed overseas, that is, they are among themselves. It is difficult to form a good interactive support.” She said that relevant departments should further clarify the strategic positioning, goals, and paths for the development of China’s auto internationalization, and strengthen coordination and guidance for the overseas development of auto companies in the supporting industrial policy environment.