Donald Trump’s wall might have been a short-lived dream but there's no stopping this wall. Great Wall Motor (GWM) isn’t about to be kept at bay in South America as it took ownership of an auto factory previously owned by Mercedes-Benz Group in Iracemapolis, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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The fifth largest Chinese automaker and largest Chinese maker of SUVs and pickups aims to transform the factory into the core of its planned business expansion in South America.

Having produced Mercedes-Benz vehicles since 2016, the plant was sold to GWM and the latter is going about adapting the facility to meet its requirements with a goal of restarting production in the second half of 2023. An initial capacity of 100,000 vehicles is the target.

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GWM looks to launch 10 new models in Brazil with four being battery-powered and the rest being hybrids. All the vehicles will be equipped with internet of vehicles (IoV) and L2 (partial driving automation) driver assistance systems. All these are part of the carmaker plans for the region which includes pumping in over 11.5 billion renminbi (~USD1.8 billion) in its Brazilian operations that will create 2,000 direct jobs in the area as well.

The strategy also includes engaging local suppliers on a larger scale for a stronger presence in the local industry supply chain. GWM will be investing in stages and aims to reach a localisation rate of over 60 percent. Furthermore, they’ll also be investing in the local charging network to enable coverage across core cities in Brazil by 2025.

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Part of the strategy includes launching the GWM and Ora brand in Brazil with the latter positioned as a high-end battery electric vehicle (BEV) brand.

Initial vehicles from Iracemapolis will serve the Brazilian market before slowly being sold in other countries in the region. Prior to this, GWM has been exporting cars from China to Latin America for over a decade.

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Brazil is the largest auto market in South America and the seventh largest globally. The Brazilian auto manufacturers association ANFAVEA (Associação Nacional dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores) forecasts that auto sales in the country will climb by 8.5 percent in 2022 to approximately 2.3 million units.

GWM sold 1.28 million vehicles in 2021 and is targeting 4.0 million in 2025. Industry leader Toyota sold 9.56 million vehicles in 2021.

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Iracemapolis will be GWM’s third overseas manufacturing facility after. Russian production started in Tula; south of Moscow, in 2018. In 2020, GWM bought General Motors’ (GM) assembly plant in Thailand to produce its electric vehicles for Southeast Asia.

Apart from the three factories, GWM runs knockdown kit assembly efforts in Ecuador, Malaysia, Tunisia and Bulgaria.