Headquarters of ERGO Insurance Group, Dusseldorf (Germany). (picture alliance/Daniel Kalker/dpa)
The Dusseldorf-based insurance company Ergo wants to expand its presence in China through a joint venture with the car manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM). In the future, customers who buy cars at any of the 1,000 Great Wall dealerships will be able to buy insurance at the same time. In addition Ergo wants to offer industrial insurance to the factories of the automaker as well as trade and private insurances to the dealerships and 70,000 employees of GWM.
The joint venture is to start operations in the first quarter of next year, Ergo, a subsidiary of the Munich Re Group, and GWM announced on Monday. The two CEOs Markus Riess and Wei Jianjun - who frequently appears outside China under his English name Jack Wey - signed a letter of intent to this effect.
Great Wall company patriarch Wei is one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in China and is pursuing very ambitious plans. The core idea is that modern cars are computers on wheels and that China's strong position in information technology could enable the Chinese automotive industry to become a world leader in the global market.
One of Wei’s prestige projects is the SUV brand Wey, named after the CEO, which Great Wall intends to sell in Europe from 2021 and thus compete with domestic car manufacturers. Germany will act as a test ground. The planned joint venture with Ergo is not the first joint project with a German company: BMW intends to cooperate with Great Wall in the development of electric cars.
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