Spotlight received business license with registered capital of 1.7 bln RMB

The Spotlight Automotive project was launched at the end of November this year, and its production base project has also previously been approved by the Jiangsu Development and Reform Commission. According to the announcement issued by Great Wall Motors, Spotlight Automotive Ltd. received the business license for Spotlight Automotive Ltd. issued by The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Zhangjiagang City on 30 December 2019, with the term of operation from December 27, 2019 to December 26, 2034.

The announcement shows that Spotlight Automotive Ltd., established on 27 December, 2019, is a limited liability company (sino-foreign joint venture) with a registered capital of RMB 1.7 billion and Zhao Guoqing as its legal representative. Its domicile is at the place of Feng Building, No.1 North Guo Tai Road, Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone, Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province. The term of operation of Spotlight is from 27 December 2019 to 26 December 2034

Business scope: Engaged in the research, development, manufacture and full export sales of ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) vehicles; research, development, manufacture and sale of automotive spare parts and components; research, development, manufacture and sale of new energy vehicles (including battery electric vehicles); export of whole vehicles and their spare parts, components and accessories (except for imports and exports of goods and technologies prohibited by the State or for which administrative approval is required); provision of after-sale services; purchase and sale of automotive accessories; warehousing services; road freight transportation services; provision of relevant training (excluding the training through which the trainees would be able to obtain nationally-recognized vocational certificates), consulting, experiment and technical services. (The projects, which are subject to approval in accordance with the laws, shall be operated only after receiving approval from relevant administrative authorities)

The Spotlight Automotive Project

Spotlight Automotive Ltd. is a joint venture established by the BMW Group and Great Wall Motor. According to the contract, the two parties each hold 50% of the shares, the registered capital is RMB 1.7 billion, and the registered address is Zhangjiagang City in Jiangsu Province. The total investment is 5.1 billion yuan. The company's directors will consist of six members, the chairman will be appointed by Great Wall, the vice chairman will be appointed by BMW, and the directors will serve for four years.

It is reported that Spotlight is the first global electric vehicle joint venture project of the BMW Group with a planned standard annual production capacity of 160,000 units of whole vehicles. According to previous plans, the first product of the joint venture will be a battery electric compact SUV with a cruising range of more than 500km, and the second model will be a MINI battery electric vehicle. Both of them will be put into production in 2021.

Approval of the Spotlight automotive production base project

On 21 November 2019, the Spotlight Automotive Production Base Project was approved by Jiangsu Development and Reform Commission. According to the announcement, the construction of the project is planned to start in 2020 and complete in 2022. The total investment of the project will be approximately RMB 5.1 billion. The project will be constructed to develop an annual production capacity of 160,000 all-exported ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) vehicles and R&D and non-series manufacturing of pure electric passenger vehicles with the construction period of 24 months. The project covers an area of about 930 mus with planned floor areas of approximately 274,657m² and requires purchase of about 460 sets of production and testing equipment.

The construction items for the manufacturing of ICE vehicles include stamping workshop, welding workshop, coating workshop, assembly workshop and test track, etc., for manufacturing all-exported ICE vehicles; the construction items for the R&D and non-series manufacturing of pure electric passenger vehicles include R&D facilities such as technology building, for the R&D of a new generation of safe, environmentally-friendly and intelligent electric vehicles.

The approval of the Spotlight Automotive Production Base Project is only for the manufacturing of all-exported ICE vehicles and R&D and non-series manufacturing of pure electric passenger vehicles. It is required to obtain the approval on the pure electric vehicle project before the commencement of the production and sales of pure electric passenger vehicles.

It is worth noting that the announcement states that "the project is planned to complete in 2022", which means that the time for Spotlight's first model to be put into manufacturing may be postponed.