Chinese automaker GWM buys Mercedes-Benz plant in São Paulo state – newspaper

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors (GWM) said it has bought the Mercedes-Benz car plant in Iracemápolis, in the interior of São Paulo. The information was given by the newspaper “O Globo”, Sunday, July 4.

According to the publication, the official announcement of the deal has not yet happened. However, the acquisition of the São Paulo plant was decided internally about two weeks ago and gained mention in GWM’s internal newspaper on June 25.

In the publication, the technical details of Mercedes’ São Paulo plant are disclosed, confirming that they are within the standards required for GWM’s car production in Iracemápolis.

Questioned, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil informed that it “does not comment on speculations”.

According to “O Globo”, the arrival of the Chinese company in the country follows the internationalization plan of the assembler, which in the last two years started to produce in Russia and Thailand, and is about to do the same in India. GWM’s expansion can also be seen as another move in the ongoing changing of the guard in the world economy with the shift of the US-Europe axis towards Asia, pushed mainly by the rise of China.

Globo says the Chinese automaker’s strategy is to buy plants in countries of interest. In Brazil, the company acquired the Mercedes-Benz plant; in Thailand, that of General Motors, and in India, the business is expected to enter the country by acquiring another GM plant.

The largest manufacturer of pickups and SUVs in China, GWM last year sold 1.1 million cars. According to the company’s president, Wei Jianjun, the goal is to reach the 4 million mark by 2025. By GWM’s projections, 80% of these will be “new energy” vehicles, including battery-electric and hydrogen-powered ones.

Announced in 2013, MB’s plant in Iracemápolis was short-lived. It began operating in 2016 for the assembly of the C-Class and GLA models. However, in December last year, the German company announced its closure, claiming a drop in sales caused by the poor economic situation in Brazil, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic.