Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor (GWM) hosted a ceremony on November 2nd to celebrate the latest milestone in taking full ownership of Rayong Manufacturing Facility in Thailand.

The facilities belonged to General Motors (GM) and were sold to GWM following GM’s decision to withdraw from Thailand.

GWM’s move to set up its production base in Thailand kicked off in February this year when the company started negotiation with GM to acquire, under a signed binding term sheet, GM Thailand and GM Powertrain Thailand legal entities, which include the Rayong vehicle assembly and powertrain facilities.

GWM prepares to undergo renovations and system upgrades with state-of-the-art machinery and innovative technologies to set up the “Smart Factory” at the global standard. The full ownership of Rayong plant will also strengthen GWM’s international presence in Thailand and ASEAN region. 

The plant in Rayong is remarked as the first full-process vehicle plant in Southeast Asia and it is set to be an important hub for right-hand driving vehicle production in the region. 

The Thai production hub will become operational in the first quarter of 2021 with automobile production capacity of 80,000 units per annum.

In addition to bringing job opportunities to people and growth to the automotive supply chain, the new investment by GWM will contribute to R&D progress in support of Thailand’s automotive industry development and help spur related industries to enable continued growth of the Thai economy at large.

On October 23, Great Wall Motor Company Limited (“GWM”, 2333.HK, 601633.CN) released its financial report for the third quarter of 2020.

The report says that, from July to September 2020, GWM achieved total earnings of RMB 26.21 billion, up by 23.6% YoY and 11.5% MoM, including a net profit of RMB 1.44 billion attributable to the parent company, up by 2.9% YoY and a gross margin of 19%, up by 0.5% YoY, and registered a sales volume of 286,000 vehicles, up by 23.9% YoY. The revenue of GWM in the first three quarters totaled RMB 62.14 billion.