Great Wall Motor (GWM) announces strategic growth plans for Europe and gives a concrete preview of its future regional expansion plans as well as its product portfolio for the coming years.
Previously, uncertainties in European market conditions had prompted GWM to reassess its regional setup and approach to further expansion, while fully maintaining existing sales and service operations through its distributors in Germany, the UK, Sweden, Bulgaria and other European markets. This announcement not only marks the end of this strategic readjustment period. It also represents a major, long-term commitment to making significant, continuous investments in the European region. The objective is to gradually develop GWM into a volume mainstream brand in all major European countries, while consequently implementing learnings from the first phase.
GWM’s future European product portfolio follows an “All scenarios, all powertrains” philosophy
At the core of GWM’s revamped strategic approach for Europe sits a new, much broader product and powertrain portfolio. In a first wave, starting from mid-2026, a total of at least 7 new models and model derivatives will be introduced into the European mainstream market. In this context, the GWM HAVAL product line will celebrate its premiere in the European market, following its initial launch in the UK in 2025. Living up to its 35-year heritage as China’s leading producer of SUVs and 4×4 technology, the majority of the new models will be SUV’s in different sizes and categories, catering to a large variety of usage scenarios from urban commuting and family trips to rugged outdoor adventures. Depending on the segment and the target group, vehicles will be equipped with 2WD or GWM’s sophisticated Hybrid Intelligent All-Wheel-Drive system (Hi4). Furthermore, GWM will be introducing an entirely new family of urban compact passenger cars with different body types under the GWM ORA product line. To succeed in the competitive and diversified European car market, GWM’s new product portfolio will offer customers a broad choice of powertrains featuring entry-priced ICE, economical HEV, long-range PHEV and zero-emission BEV technology. Thanks to this strong product portfolio diversification across segments, body types and powertrain technologies, GWM is looking to achieve significantly increased market coverage in major mainstream segments, effectively appealing to a much wider group of target audiences.
Large-scale regional expansion from mid-2026
The introduction of new products will also be the starting signal for the acceleration of GWM’s expansion into many more European markets. While existing cooperations with distribution partners remain fully intact, such as the UK, new market entries will follow a two-fold strategy: in major volume markets such as Spain and Italy, GWM will open its own, self-operated national sales companies. These will become the company’s first sales subsidiaries in Europe. In smaller markets GWM will continue to follow a cooperation model with independent importer companies that will build up the brand’s presence in the respective market and take care of all sales and service-related aspects of the business. As a common denominator across all markets and in line with GWM’s approach since its European market entry in 2022, GWM continues to count on independent dealers and dealer groups with a high level of local market heritage and expertise to sell its vehicles to customers and provide service. With this “trusted partner” approach, GWM aims to engage with each market and open the door to new customer audiences.
New distribution partnerships on the horizon
With this mindset and enormous product and innovation power in the pipeline, GWM has been able to generate considerable interest in its plans amongst European distributors and dealers. This interest culminated in over a hundred potential partners from a total of 12 European markets joining GWM for the GWM Europe Partner Day 2025, which was held at GWM’s global R&D Centre in Baoding in late September.
Apart from gaining in-depth insights into GWM’s intelligent factory, technology labs, and innovative testing facilities, participants were able to test a wide range of vehicles and powertrains, gaining strong confidence in GWM’s engineering capabilities and the business opportunity ahead. “True cooperation must be built on transparency, understanding, and trust,” said Parker Shi, President of GWM International. “That’s what we at GWM call ‘long-termism’, laying the foundation for a strong automotive brand and a sustainable business case for all partners in Europe”. This approach resonated strongly with the participants. In a festive ceremony, the overwhelming majority officially confirmed their confidence and strong interest in joining GWM’s European partner network in 2026, signing letters of intent.
The Countdown has started: More news to come soon
GWM is determined to greatly expand its European business activities from mid-2026. Consequently, major business development steps and conclusions of cooperation agreements with business partners and service providers are in the making. GWM will release further information on this, as well as more details on its new product portfolio in the months to come.