One of China's leading automakers is to invest heavily in global research and development over the next five years.
Great Wall Motor Co Chairman Wei Jianjun has announced the company will invest an additional CNY 5 billion ($782 million) in R&D centres over the next five years and plans to build research units in Europe, Japan and the United States.
Wei did not provide timeframes or exact locations for the new facilities, but he did reveal plans to double Great Wall’s engineering staff to more than 10,000 employees and plans to add 1,000 overseas staff to its technical team.
The Chinese brand, based in northern Hebei province, sold more than 487,000 vehicles last year, of which 83,000 were exported. In February, the company opened a plant in Bulgaria, adding to its growing number of plants abroad which assemble knock-down kits imported from China.
As the domestic market becomes increasingly oversaturated, Great Wall is looking towards developing economies in Eastern Europe and South America for sales. Export sales growth outstripped domestic sales growth this year, and the company hopes to keep the momentum going through 2012. A spokesperson for Great Wall claimed it was looking to triple exports by 2015.
Great Wall's push into Europe follows the news late last year that Geely is to enter the UK, with vehicles being distibuted by Manganese Holdings Plc - manufacturers of London's distinctive Black Cabs (taxis).