MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China enters auto manufacturing industry in Brazil, acquiring Mercedes-Benz plant

Great Wall Motors landing in Brazil is part of the automaker’s global plan: it has started production in Russia and Thailand, and is planning in India

The Chinese auto industry is penetrating Brazil. Automaker Great Wall Motors (GWM) reported that it has purchased the Mercedes-Benz car factory in Iracemápolis, Sao Paulo state, according to a report in the financial sector from the newspaper “O Globo” last Sunday.

The publication points out that the official announcement of the deal has not yet taken place, but the acquisition of the São Paulo factory was completed about two weeks ago and was mentioned in GWM’s internal newspaper, on June 25th.

The O'Globo report discloses the technical details of the Mercedes plant in São Paulo and confirms that they are within the standards required for the production of GWM cars in Iracemápolis.

According to “O Globo”, the Chinese’s arrival in the country is in alignment with the automaker’s internationalization plan; in the last two years, the company has also started production in Russia and Thailand and is about to do the same in India.

O'Globo's report comments that the GWM expansion can also be seen as another movement in the ongoing changing of the guard in the world economy with the shift of the US-Europe axis towards Asia, pushed mainly by the rise of China.

GWM's strategy is to buy manufacturing units in the countries of interest. In Brazil, the company acquired the Mercedes-Benz plant; in Thailand, a General Motors (GM) plan; and in India, the business is expected to enter the country through the acquisition of another GM plant.