Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motors has closed down its Indian operations amid its failure to get hold of General Motors’ Talegaon plant near Pune. The company’s senior Chinese executives have communicated the decision to the employees.
All of the employees who were spread across different domains namely marketing, network, planning and strategy, service, HR and finance, quality and production, and R&D were laid off with immediate effect with a 3-month severance package.
The ambitious project was called off owing to the inability to get central government’s clearance for the acquisition of the now-defunct Talegaon plant even after continued efforts for over 2-and-a-half years since the company’s Indian entry.
Earlier the Chinese manufacturer proposed to invest a humongous USD 1 billion for the re-development of the plant. With this, Great Wall Motors has joined the likes of Chinese manufacturers – Changan, Haima, and Chery who failed to make an Indian entry.
The term sheet for the sale of Talegaon plant between Great Wall Motors and General Motors expired on 30th June. As approvals couldn’t be obtained within the time frame, both the parties had terminated the transaction.
Great Wall Motors said this isn’t the end of the road and that it will start exploring options of entering the Indian market again in the future. The Haval range of SUVs were planned for manufacture and launch in the Indian market.
Founded in 1984, Great Wall Motors is currently the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in China, with 1.281 million sales in 2021.
The company produces and sells vehicles under its brands, namely GWM, Haval, WEY, TANK, POER, and ORA. It also produces electric vehicles under some of these listed brands including the dedicated EV brands such as ORA.