Great Wall Motors hosted a ceremony to mark the start of the construction of its new plant on October 26 in Pinghu, a county-level city in the east of Jiaxing, Zhejiang of China. With a total investment of almost RMB11 billion ($1.56 billion), the facility is supposed to involve a total area of over 1,200mu (80 hectares) with the annual capacity of 100,000 units. It will be used to produce the automaker’s Haval-branded vehicles and a series of NEVs. A research and development (R&D) center will also be set up there.
The automobile manufacturer said its Pinghu vehicle production plant would take advantage of a large number of robots to achieve full automation in several workshops. As to environmental protection, it is expected to adopt a number of technologies such as film pretreatment process, waterborne compact paint technology and dry spray booths to reduce emissions.
The Pinghu R&D center and its runway project will have a total area of about 600mu (40 hectares). Covering a planned floor area of 25 hectares, the center will focus on intelligence, interconnectivity, sanitation and sharing.
To build its global production footprint, the automaker has formed a so-called 9+5 global production system, in which 9 refers to factories in Baoding of Hebei, Xuhui of Baoding, Tianjin, Tula of Russia, Yongchuan of Chongqing, Pinghu of Jiaxing, Zhangjiagang of Jiangsu (under plan), Rizhao of Shandong (under plan), Taizhou of Jiangsu (under plan) while 5 stands for factories alongside the Belt and Road, including one in Ecuador, one in Malaysia and one in Tunisia.
