China's Great Wall Motors mulling Australian expansion

CANBERRA - Chinese automobile manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) has unveiled its plans to expand at the Australian market.

CarAdvice Australia reported that Wey, GWM's mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV), is set to enter Australia by 2021.

Hidesuke Takasue, Haval's chief operating officer in Australia, told media at the manufacturer's factory in Baoding, China, that it was time for the company to expand having previously exclusively sold vehicles in China.

"The time is changing," he said, as reported by CarAdvice. "The company is seriously seeking to develop the outside-China business."

GWM Group vice-president of product planning Sam Chen told Australian journalists at the Beijing motor show in April 2018 that exporting Wey was being seriously considered.

"We're actually doing a lot of studies right now, so we don't want to limit our application of which brand goes to which overseas market, but we're actually studying that (the Australian introduction of Wey) right now," he told GoAuto.

"We have to decide, what's the best chance of success for our brand? What's our volume possibility? What's our position? Who's going to be our key competitor? So, these are really things we're looking at."