Great Wall Motors to cut scale of distribution network
Great Wall Motors, one of the leading SUV and pickup manufacturers in China, reported sales of 487,000 vehicles for 2011, a year on year increase of 22.5 percent, including 165,000 Haval SUVs, 200,000 Great Wall PCs and 122,000 Wingle pickups.
Despite the strong sales results, its goal of creating a separate distribution network for each brand, a strategy the company developed two years ago, has not been put into action until now.
Wang Fengying, president of Great Wall Motors, told media in March 2012 that the car maker will significantly improve its services for dealerships and users in 2012. To this end, the Chinese proprietary car brand has a plan to cut the scale of its network of dealers by 20 percent, an indication that about 160 dealers will exit from the at present 800-member network.
In addition, Great Wall Motors is on track to reach an annual production capacity of 2 million new vehicles between plants in Tianjin, in Baoding, Hebei province and at other locations by 2015, and is striving to reach its long-term goal through a multi-brand strategy and by improving its level of services to dealerships.
