China’s Great Wall Motor to assemble vehicles in Vietnam next year

Great Wall Motor (GWM) will build a complete-knocked-down (CKD) vehicle assembly factory in Vietnam, beginning localized production and sales by the end of 2025, the Chinese auto giant said Thursday.

GWM and Vietnam’s Thanh An Group JSC (TAG) signed a memorandum of understanding for the move last month. GWM said the collaboration was part of the company's "Global Ecosystem" strategy to expand its global production and supply network.

The two sides have had in-depth discussions on future cooperation vision towards leveraging their respective expertise and resources to jointly expand the market.

GWM officially entered the Vietnamese market in August 2023.

Earlier, in January 2023, GWM and TAG had established a strategic partnership to distribute the former's vehicles in Vietnam. The plan then was to import automobiles from GWM’s plant in Rayong, Thailand to Vietnam.

Growing overseas demand

To implement its "Global Ecosystem" strategy and enhance high-quality development of its overseas operations, the Chinese firm is boosting localized production, shifting from exporting products and trade to manufacturing vehicles abroad.

The strategy is a response to growing overseas demand for GWM products.

Currently, GWM produces a "dual-wheel drive" model with both domestic and overseas operations, forming a global "10+3+N" production layout – 10 factories in China, three overseas factories and multiple knocked-down (KD) factories.

KD factory projects have become an important means of expanding production capacity in addition to the full-process factories. GWM has launched KD factories in Ecuador, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia.