• The Brazil plant is GWM's third full-fledged vehicle manufacturing center outside of China.
• GWM sold 15,700 vehicles in Brazil in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 percent.

Great Wall Motor (GWM) has launched production at its factory in Brazil, becoming the latest Chinese automaker after BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) to begin localized production in the South American country.

The factory, located in Iracemápolis, São Paulo, began production on August 15 local time, according to a statement released today by the Chinese automaker.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva witnessed the rollout of the first vehicle produced at the factory -- a Haval H6 GT -- and signed the vehicle's body.

The factory was converted from a Daimler plant acquired by GWM in 2021 and has an annual production capacity of 50,000 vehicles. Initially, it will produce models including the Haval H6 series, Haval H9, and the 2.4T Poer.

GWM said this is its third full-fledged vehicle manufacturing center outside China, which will supply the Latin American region and shorten delivery cycles.

The company's other two overseas full-process vehicle manufacturing centers are the Tula plant in Russia, which began production in 2019, and the Rayong plant in Thailand, which began production in 2021.

In addition to these three full-process vehicle manufacturing bases, GWM also has several factories in Ecuador, Pakistan, and other locations that produce vehicles using the KD (Knocked Down) model.

The Brazilian factory covers a total area of 1.2 million square meters, with a building area of 94,000 square meters, and has welding, painting, and assembly workshops.

GWM sold 15,700 vehicles in Brazil in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 percent, according to the company.

To date, GWM has over 1,400 overseas sales channels, with products sold in more than 170 countries and regions, and cumulative sales exceeding 2 million units.

In January-July, GWM sold 238,746 vehicles overseas, roughly flat from the 239,685 units sold in the same period last year, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

Prior to the launch of this GWM factory, BYD's passenger vehicle plant in Brazil began production on July 1, with the first model being the Seagull, which was renamed Dolphin Mini locally.