Shanghai (ZXZC)- Great Wall Motor (GWM), China's biggest SUV and pickup manufacturer, announced on Nov. 24 the completion of its plant in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, with an ORA Haomao all-electric car rolling off the assembly line, according to a posting on GWM's WeChat account.

ORA Haomao; photo credit: GWM

GWM began the construction of its Taizhou base in November 2019. As the eighth complete vehicle manufacturing base GWM deploys in China, the Taizhou plant involves a total investment of 8 billion yuan ($1.22 billion) and covers an area of 1,173 mu (782,000 square meters). With an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles, the new plant has four workshops for stamping, welding, painting and assembly.

GWM Taizhou plant; photo credit: GWM

With the Taizhou plant at the core, GWM is ambitious to build the most influential automotive technology industrial park in East China with a complete industrial chain covering multiple businesses like car manufacturing, supply of core auto parts, automotive finance, automobile insurance and car sharing. According to GWM, over 4,000 jobs are expected to be offered upon completion of those spin-off projects.

GWM said the Taizhou plant will play an important role in GWM strategic deployment designed to make a bridge between the south and the north of China.

GWM has been perfecting its global production deployment in recent years. In the second half of 2019, the automaker's Tula factory in Russia and Yongchuan plant in Chongqing were successively put into production, and the company also started building the complete vehicle production bases in Pinghu and Taizhou. At the beginning of this year, GWM acquired General Motors' plants in Rayong of Tailand and Talegaon of India.