Filipino-owned StateMotor Corporation has forged a joint venture with Chinese leading motor vehicle assembler Great Wall Motor Company Limited (GWM) for the assembly of Chinese commercial vehicles and parts manufacturing in the country.

StateMotor has proposed to invest P371 million initial investments for the proposed project.
Already, the Board of Investments has approved the project under the Motor Vehicle Development Program under Classification II or the commercial vehicle category.

“With the local automotive industry experiencing an impressive growth in sales, the public will be more open to new entrants or alternatives such as this,” Trade and Industry Secretary and BOI Chairman Gregory L. Domingo said.

Its proposed plant is located in J. Aguilar Avenue , Pamplona , Las Piñas City. Once completed, it will have an assembly capacity will be at 500 units annually.

The project is expected to start full assembly production on October 2010 while parts manufacturing is slated to start on July 2011 with total employment of 59 people.

StateMotor is owned by State Properties Corp. led by Allen Roxas as chair.

To comply with the MVDP program, StateMotor has entered into a Technical Licensing Agreement (TLA) with Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd. oF China for the supply of knocked down kits, parts and components.

GWM is China’s leading assembler of sedans, sports utility vehicles, pick-up trucks and multi-purpose vehicle series.

Initially, GWM has authorized StateMotor to locally assemble the Wingle 4x2, 4x4 pickups and the Hover 4x2 and 4x4 SUVs.

GWM is one of the largest automotive firms in China, with products sold to more than 120 countries and regions.

As China’s first private automobile enterprise listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it has more than 30 subsidiaries and over 22,000 staff members with an annual capacity of 400,000 complete vehicles and the capability to independently produce key parts such as engines as well as front and rear axles.