Great Wall assembly operations in Bulgaria will be launched in August 2011

SHANGHAI, China - According to a report in China Daily, Great Wall CEO Wang Fengying mentioned in her speech at the Shanghai Auto Show, thet production will get under way at the company's first European plant in Bulgaria in August.

This is not the first time, that Great Wall products are being assembled in Europe - its Russian distributor, Irito, managed to put together some units earlier on.

But the Bulgarian plant is different - it has been set up by Litex Motors with active participation from Great Wall. The Chinese company provides technology, while its Bulgarian partner sets up the plant itself in Lovech. The project is a little bit behind schedule, as the first cars were supposed to roll out earlier this year.

Great Wall has great ambitions in the European Union - to that end it signed a distribution agreement with British dealer, IM Group. IM Group will set up dealerships in Baltic countries, before moving to other countries.

The Bulgarian plant will have a capacity of 50,000 units a year and its main products will be newly developed passenger cars from Great Wall, including its B-segment Voleex C30 (pictured)