GWM (Great Wall Motor) has said it will take over the Barcelona factory owned by Nissan. 

The plant, which is one of the sites that manufactures the Navara, will close in December and is one of three Spanish factories Nissan is shutting as part of a global restructure.

Spain is Europe’s third-biggest car-making nation. 

Nissan has joined with national and regional authorities to select buyers for its three factories and has nominated GWM for its biggest plant. 

The two smaller plants are being earmarked for Silence, a Spanish electric motorcycle manufacturer and QEV Technologies, which is a local engineering firm which leads an electric vehicle production hub integrated by Swedish manufacturers Inzile and Volta.

The three Barcelona plants employ about 3000 people directly and 20,000 indirectly. Reuters reported that a union source said only 1600 direct jobs are at stake because the rest of the workers will benefit from early retirement and other measures.

Earlier this year GWM bought the General Motors Talegaon factory in India which made the Chevrolet Beat (also known as the Spark) hatch and sedan for export to the Latin American market.

GM’s other car-making facility in India was sold to SAIC and is currently used to produce vehicles under the MG brand.

In India, GWM said it intends to sell electric vehicles and Haval crossovers and SUVs and that the market “has great potential, rapid economic growth and a good investment environment”.

Last year GWM bought the General Motors factory in Thailand that previously made the Holden Colorado ute and Trailblazer SUV. 

GWM last month started producing its Haval 6 Hybrid from the Thai plant in right-hand drive, but has not confirmed if this will be slated for Australia.

GWM has also taken over a Daimler production facility in Brazil where the German car-maker made the GLA and C-Class models until closing the doors in December 2020 citing economic difficulties in Brazil and the negative effects of the pandemic.

GWM said in a statement that South America was seen as an important market. It first marketed its vehicles in Chile in 2007 and had immediate positive results before expanding into other neighbouring countries, including Brazil. 

Brazil is one of the seven largest auto markets in the world and accesses all of South America. 

GWM now has factories in China, Russia, Thailand, India, Brazil and, soon, Spain to aid its goal of selling four-million vehicles globally by 2025 as part of its pledge to “win the Chinese market and venture into the world”.

By Neil Dowling