The History of Great Wall Motor: From Baoding Workshop to GWM

Great Wall Motor at a glance

From repair shop to pickup leader (1976–2002)

The company began in 1976 as the Great Wall Repair Factory, set up in Baoding by Wei Deliang together with the local township. In 1984 it started building its own vehicles, at first derived from the Beijing BJ212 off-roader, and 1984 is usually given as its founding year. After Wei Deliang died in 1989, his nephew Wei Jianjun became director in July 1990, at the age of 26; he still leads the company.

Great Wall briefly built passenger cars based on existing designs in 1993, but national rules ended its saloon production in 1994. The breakthrough came in 1996 with the Deer pickup, which made Great Wall China's leading pickup producer by the end of the decade. The first exports, pickups for the Middle East, followed in October 1997. In 1998 the local government privatised the company, and in 1999 it set up its own engine subsidiary after its engine supplier had partnered with a competitor. Building engines in-house gave Great Wall control over its most important component and later allowed it to develop its own diesel and turbo petrol units.

Listing, SUVs and the first export push (2003–2012)

On 15 December 2003 Great Wall became the first private Chinese carmaker listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its SUVs, sold first as the Hover, became the main growth driver: exports of the Hover began in 2006, with Italy among the first European markets. The Great Wall Hover H5 became one of the brand's best-known export models. The company entered Australia in 2009, and in February 2012 a kit-assembly plant built with the Bulgarian company Litex Motors near Lovech began production.

The Bulgarian plant, run by Litex at Bahovitsa, could assemble up to 50,000 vehicles a year from kits. It started with the Voleex C10 small car and later added the Hover 6 SUV and the Steed 5 pickup, giving Great Wall its first foothold inside the European Union.

Growth also brought disputes. Fiat sued over the Great Wall Peri, a small car that closely resembled the Fiat Panda. In 2008 an Italian court found in Fiat's favour, while a Chinese court rejected the claim. Critics noted similarities between other early models and Japanese designs, a reputation the company later worked to leave behind.

Haval, Wey, Ora and Tank (2013–2021)

The Haval H6, launched around 2011, became one of China's most successful vehicles and led the country's SUV segment for 103 consecutive months. In March 2013 Haval became a standalone brand, and in 2016 annual output passed one million vehicles for the first time, with 1,086,639 sold. Great Wall then built a family of brands:

In 2018 Great Wall spun off its battery business as SVOLT and signed a joint venture with BMW, Spotlight Automotive, which was formed in November 2019 to build electric Minis in China. In 2020 the company adopted the short name GWM and agreed to take over General Motors' plant in Rayong, Thailand. In August 2021 it announced the purchase of a plant in Iracemápolis, Brazil.

Key Great Wall models

Across these models the pattern is the same: Great Wall has built its business on body-on-frame vehicles and SUVs, and only later moved into electric cars. That is why its pickups and off-roaders are still its main export products in Australia, the Middle East and South America, while its electric brands have struggled outside China.

GWM in Europe: a second attempt

The company's first European venture was small-scale: SUVs and pickups sold through importers and the Bulgarian assembly plant. In 2021 GWM opened a European head office in Munich and launched the Ora and Wey brands with modern electric and plug-in models. The Ora Funky Cat (later Ora 03) and the Wey Coffee 01 both earned five stars from Euro NCAP in 2022, a sign of how far the company's engineering had moved since a three-star ANCAP result for the V200 pickup in 2014.

Sales stayed small: GWM sold about 6,300 vehicles in Europe in 2023. In May 2024 it announced the closure of the Munich office by 31 August 2024. Electric models from Chinese brands are compared in the 1cars electric-car section.

Plants and production today

The main production base is in Baoding, with further plants in China, including Tianjin. Abroad, GWM builds cars in Thailand at the former GM plant in Rayong, where production of the Ora Good Cat began in January 2024, and it planned to start production in Brazil in 2025. In January 2026 the company presented its Guiyuan platform in Baoding, designed for five types of powertrain, from petrol to fully electric.

How Great Wall compares with other Chinese carmakers

Great Wall stands out among Chinese carmakers as a private company with a long focus on pickups and SUVs rather than saloons. Compared with its 2016 total of 1,086,639 vehicles, its 2025 sales of 1,323,672 were about 22 % higher. Rivals such as BYD, Geely and Chery have grown faster in electric cars and exports, while GWM keeps a strong position in off-road vehicles with Tank and in pickups. Older Hover models can be set against a familiar rival in the Hover H5 vs SsangYong Kyron comparison.

Which Great Wall to choose

For buyers who need a robust working vehicle, GWM's pickups remain the brand's strongest products and are widely sold in Australia, South Africa and Latin America. The Haval H6 suits families looking for a well-equipped mid-size SUV at a moderate price, and the Tank models are for those who need real off-road ability. In Europe, where the official network has shrunk, check the availability of parts and service before buying an Ora or Wey. Older Hover models are simple and cheap but lag behind on safety. All models are listed in the Great Wall catalogue.

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