Shanghai (ZXZC)- BMW Group and Great Wall Motor officially initiated their 50:50 joint-venture project, Spotlight Automotive, on November 29, marking the first joint venture between foreign and privately-owned automakers in China will be soon established.

The groundbreaking ceremony is held only a week after the joint venture was given the governmental green-light to produce internal combustion engine-powered vehicles (ICEVs) and conduct R&D activities for all-electric PVs. However, the approval is not available to BEV production.

The construction of Spotlight Automotive's vehicle plant is set to be completed by 2022 with a total investment of roughly RMB5.1 billion, according to a reply issued by Jiangsu Development & Reform Commission.

The plant will be built in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, covering an area of around 930mu (620,000 square meters). Under the completion of the project, Spotlight Automotive will be allowed to produce 160,000 fossil fuel-powered PVs per year and to carry out R&D activities for pure electric PVs there. The ICEVs output should be entirely exported outside China.

On July 10, 2018, BMW Group and GWM signed an agreement to produce MINI electric vehicles through a 50:50 joint venture based in China, namely, Spotlight Automotive. As well as MINI EVs, the joint venture would also produce EVs for Great Wall Motor, BMW Group said then.

Reportedly, Spotlight Automotive is scheduled to produce its first model, a compact all-electric SUV with range of over 500km, in 2021. The second model is likely to be the BEV version of the MINI (photo source: Great Wall Motor's WeChat account).