“The Spotlight Automotive project is progressing smoothly, the project team has achieved many achievements in various fields, the shareholders of both parties are full of confidence in this project.” After the rumors of “apprehension” on Great Wall Motors(GWM) and BMW Spotlight Automotive Project”, GWM quickly responded. In addition to the GWM, BMW also announced that it will not respond to rumors.
Just recently, a number of foreign media reports have triggered Chinese automotive media attention to the ” Spotlight Automotive”. According to foreign media reports, due to cultural differences between China and foreign countries and the uncertainty of the specific details of the project, BMW has canceled the long-term plan for the BMW engineers to go to China to participate in the Spotlight Automotive project, or there are some problems in the Spotlight Automotive project. However, the authenticity of the above rumors remains to be verified with the successive responses of the GWM and BMW.
It is reported that as early as April 2016, GWM and BMW signed a confidentiality agreement for joint venture and cooperation. In July 2018, under the witness of the Chinese and German government prime ministers, GWM and BMW formally signed a joint venture contract, and set up Spotlight Automotive with 50% of each shareholding; followed by August, GWM and Zhangjiagang Municipal People’s Government signed a vehicle joint venture project investment agreement, marking the official completion of Spotlight Automotive in Zhangjiagang.
According to information previously exposed, the total investment of Spotlight Automotive project reached 5.1 billion yuan, and its planned annual production capacity of the Zhangjiagang plant will reach 160,000 units. The first car of Spotlight Automotive will be a pure electric compact SUV with a cruising range of more than 500km, to put into production in 2021, while the second model is the MINI pure electric version.
In fact, in addition to Spotlight Automotive project of GWM and BMW, the joint venture between Zotye and Ford, the joint venture between JAC Motors and Volkswagen, and the one between Geely and Daimler are all going slowly. In the context of the decline in the growth rate of China’s auto market, the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, and the government’s slowdown in the approval of new energy vehicle projects, any new project is facing difficulties.
The GWM and BMW’s Spotlight Automotive has only been officially established in only two years. From the current point of view, the details of capital investment, market expectations, manufacturing system construction, future product planning, and cultural integration between the two sides still need more time to finalize. We will continue to pay attention to the future development of Spotlight Automotive.
