GM’s joint venture in China–SAIC-GM-Wuling–will begin shipments of complete knockdown (CKD) kits of the Chevrolet Move to Egypt next year. GM plans to begin assembly of the vehicle in Egypt in the third quarter of 2012 at its facility outside Cairo. It is the first Chinese vehicle to be assembled by GM in the country and the first SGMW vehicle to be assembled outside China, though SGMW already exports the Chevrolet N200 passenger van as a finished vehicle to Egypt along with other African markets.
“The introduction of the Chevrolet Move will help SGMW expand [its] market in Egypt and also seek more opportunities to cover the market in North Africa and the Arabia Free Trade Zone,” said SGMW president, Shen Yang. He went on to state that it would also help the company increase its export volume and further expand the competitiveness of sales and products.
GM said it had no details on the arrangements being made for shipment of the kits between China and Egypt or the numbers of kits being moved at this stage.
In 2010 the company sold nearly 68,000 vehicles in Egypt where it reports being the market leader for the past three years.
Earlier this year the company announced it will also begin shipments of the five-seater Wuling Honguang microvan from CKD kits produced by SGMW for assembly in India from next year.
As with the Move, the Honguang kits will be shipped from SGMW’s facility in Liuzhou and will be assembled at two plants in India: the Halol facility near Baroda and the Talegaon plant near Pune. The plan is to start from Halol, said a spokesperson for GM India (read more here).
SGMW is China’s largest producer of microvans, though since the end of tax breaks and scrappage subsidies at the end of last year sales have dropped slightly.
