Great Wall Motors plans SUVs to target India's mass market

MUMBAI: Great Wall Motors, China's largest SUV maker, is planning to accelerate its way into India’s mass-market sports utility vehicles, priced from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.The automaker plans to roll out its first vehicle by the first quarter of 2021, within a year of acquiring the Talegaon factory from General Motors. This would be followed by an electric vehicle and mid-size SUVs by 2022-2023, said several people in the know.Great Wall will be introducing SUVs under its mass-market Haval brand. First off the block will be a mid-size C segment SUV to rival the MG Hector and Tata Harrier, followed by a premium electric SUV to challenge the MG Motor E-ZS and Hyundai Kona.The core of the offering for Haval in India is the emerging market B SUV platform which has been designed keeping India in mind. The company is likely to have a sub-4-metre version as well as a 4.2-metre version of the platform.As stated before, the company plans to start manufacturing in India in 2021 and plans to have a portfolio of products across all SUV segments, Great Wall Motors India director (marketing & sales) Hardeep Brar told ET.“With an overwhelming response received at the 2020 Auto Expo post showcasing the brand Haval and our product strength, we are excited to lay a solid foundation for India,” said Brar, while refusing to share specifics around timelines and product strategy. To be sure, the aggressive stance of the company can be clearly seen in the fact that post the India entry announcement ahead of the Auto Expo, it acquired GM’s Thailand plant too. These are part of its global expansion plan.This also happens at a time when the Chinese market has started to witness a significant slowdown after years of strong double-digit growth. Great Wall felt the need to de-risk itself from slowing domestic market.“The Haval brand will be only for the SUV segment, and it will be a top-down approach the company intends to adopt,” said a person aware of the company’s plans. While the immediate focus is on the Indian market, it is expected that the company will be using the facility here as a base to export.

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