Great Wall, a Chinese car company, has formed a link with Litex Motors in Bulgaria in an attempt to finally break into Europe’s automotive domain.
Following numerous small-scale, unsubstantial efforts in the past, the East Asian superpower look to have given themselves the best opportunity so far to conquer the wider car community, and look to have the financial power to support the push.
Following the construction of their first European plant, they initially anticipate a workforce of around 150 workers, pulling together to produce up to 4000 vehicles per year.
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The expansiveness of the company is clear for all to see, as they expect to increase the number of employees to 2,000 by the end of 2013.
This represents an overall goal of manufacturing 50,000 cars a year eventually, from their factory in Bulgaria.
The Chinese automakers arrive in Eastern Europe with three main models ready to get sent out as early markers for their foray into the western world.
The Hover SUV may present a different option of model to a lot of the cars currently selling well in Europe, while the Voleex City will walk straight into the lair of some of their own East Asian competitors.
Similar in style to many of the smaller Toyotas and Suzukis, The Voleex has a look more comparable to models already walking out of showrooms in the UK, France and Eastern Europe.
Despite this, they see the Steed Pick Up as their current flagship model and, once again, they hope this will provide an alternative to the small car trend, if priced appropriately.
In particular, the Hover SUV and the Pick Up may struggle to translate to an American market, with their quota of such vehicles seemingly filled.
Company President and Chief Executive, Feng Ying Wang only has eyes on Europe for the meantime though.
"Great Wall's plans to build a plant in Bulgaria and produce automobiles here are aimed at boosting our production capacity and exporting these automobiles for the European market," he explained.
"We estimate that in three to five years we will have a wide range of models made here and that these cars will be sold in all European countries."
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