{"id":53191,"date":"2026-03-19T05:44:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=53191"},"modified":"2026-03-19T05:44:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:44:45","slug":"279168","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/03\/19\/279168\/","title":{"rendered":"GWM eyes plant options in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_279171\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-279171\" style=\"width: 1500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-279171 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GWM-eyes-plant-options-in-South-Africa.jpg?resize=640%2C341&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"GWM eyes plant options in South Africa\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GWM-eyes-plant-options-in-South-Africa.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-1024x546.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-150x80.jpg 150w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-450x240.jpg 450w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/re-gwm-1500-800-1200x640.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-279171\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nqobile Dludla\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chinese car maker<\/strong> Great Wall Motor (GWM) is weighing whether to share a manufacturing facility with another car maker in South Africa or acquire an existing plant if available and has held talks with Mercedes-Benz as it considers its options, regional executives said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese motor manufacturers seeking global growth have built more car factories in overseas markets to protect themselves as foreign regulators consider imposing measures against imports of Chinese-made vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do have discussions with Mercedes-Benz from last year and we did also have discussions with Nissan,\u201d Kevin Li, MD of GWM South Africa said during a Haval H6 plug-in hybrid SUV launch presentation.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"modern-quote pull alignright\">Contract assembly is one option. Another option is buying a plant, because building a new plant takes time<br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cContract assembly is one option. Another option is buying a plant, because building a new plant takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Li said GWM continues to engage with multiple stakeholders on local production and plans to meet the South African government in China during the upcoming annual auto show.<\/p>\n<p>GWM was outbid by Chinese rival Chery Automobile in using Nissan\u2019s plant in South Africa, which the maker of Tiggo SUVs has agreed to buy.<\/p>\n<p>Chief operating officer Conrad Groenewald said the company is still assessing which model it would produce locally.<\/p>\n<h2>East London<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThere is a new product that we launched, a global product called codename EC15. My vote\u2019s on that one, because I think that\u2019s a better product, giving us more opportunity for localisation and for potential exports into Europe,\u201d Groenewald said.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes-Benz South Africa said in an e-mailed response that the company\u2019s East London plant remains focused on producing the C\u2011Class and that it does not comment on speculation about future product portfolio and production planning process.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: right;\">Read: Chery to take over Nissan\u2019s historic Rosslyn plant<\/h3>\n<p>It noted, however, that \u201ccustomer and market requirements are constantly changing. Mercedes-Benz strives to ensure that all its production sites remain globally competitive, are on an optimal operating point and adapted to new requirements whenever necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Mercedes-Benz South Africa CEO Andreas Brand told Reuters that the East London plant had previously produced vehicles for different brands, noting that \u201cthere\u2019s technically no reason it couldn\u2019t happen again\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_237641\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-237641\" style=\"width: 1500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-237641\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773899084_694_GWM-eyes-plant-options-in-South-Africa.jpg?resize=640%2C341&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"GWM's Ora EV\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773899084_694_GWM-eyes-plant-options-in-South-Africa.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-1024x546.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-150x80.jpg 150w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-450x240.jpg 450w, https:\/\/techcentral.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GWM-ORA-1500-800-1200x640.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-237641\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GWM\u2019s Ora EV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>GWM, with a market share of 5% in South Africa and ranked number six in vehicle sales, expanded its Haval H6 line-up with the launch of a new plug-in hybrid variant on Wednesday, hoping to capture a growing share of customers who are opting for hybrid and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s aiming to capitalise on the growing compact SUV segment, which is popular for families and has a larger share in the SUV market.\u00a0 \u2014 <em>(c) 2026 Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><i>Get breaking news from TechCentral on WhatsApp.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><span class=\"s2\"><b><i>Sign up here<\/i><\/b><\/span><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><b><i\/><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#GWM #eyes #plant #options #South #Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nqobile Dludla\/Reuters Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor (GWM) is weighing whether to share a manufacturing facility with another car&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53193,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53191\/revisions\/53193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}