Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor (GWM) reportedly wants to control over 51% shareholdings in the JV with BMW Group, the company revealed at a meeting with some board directors from BMW Group before the conclusion of Auto China 2018.

"GWM certainly hopes to grasp relatively more shares in terms of GWM chairman Wei Jianjun's disposition, while the discussion is still underway", a man with knowledge of this matter said.

The German premium automaker and GWM have signed a letter of intent in February 2018 to jointly produce electric MINI vehicles in China. Reportedly, a R&D team including talents from two sides has already been established.

BMW CEO Harald Krueger has said the most pressing issue over the cooperation is resolving the technical issues, including the architecture to be used for Minis production in China. According to their discussion, BMW Group and GWM have agreed to introduce an all-new manufacturing platform in China and redesign Mini models to meet the demands of Chinese consumers.

Apart from jointly developing MINI models, both parties will extend cooperation in hydrogen fuel cell area based on their similar ideas on the trends of future vehicles’ power. According to a man close to GWM, the Chinese automaker thinks highly of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles’ prospect and has recruited many talents in this area. Correspondingly, BMW Group had showcased hydrogen fuel cell vehicle prototypes based on BMW i8 and 5 Series GT models as early as 2015 and revealed that the group would applied the hydrogen fuel cell technologies in the models to be mass produced in 2020.