Great Wall hires Steffen Cost as Europe COO

Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor (GWM) is bringing Steffen Cost, an experienced car executive, to its European management team. The 56-year-old has been heading operations at GWM’s European headquarters as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) since 1 June.

Cost previously held several senior positions at Renault, Nissan and Kia. Most recently, Cost was Vice President of Operations at Kia Europe. In his new role as COO at Great Wall Motor, Steffen Cost reports directly to the President of GWM Europe, Henry Meng.

So far, Great Wall offers the BEV compact model Ora Funky Cat (read about the test drive here) and the PHEV SUV Wey Coffee 01 in Europe and, as reported, also plans to produce on the continent in the future. The manufacturer is also looking for locations in Germany, but Eastern European countries could also be in the running. Whether Great Wall will build a new factory or take over an existing plant remains to be seen. As Meng told Automobilwoche this week, GWM has received “a number of offers” – for plants where the current manufacturers want to cease production.

By the end of April, 268 Great Wall vehicles were newly registered in Germany. “Great Wall Motor is a private company and has no pressure of expectation from the government,” Meng said in the interview. “We are therefore more pragmatic than many other Chinese manufacturers and have not set specific sales targets in the initial phase.”

Meng says about Cost’s move to GWM: “We are very pleased to welcome such an experienced auto executive to GWM. Especially given our expansion into further European markets, we are glad to benefit from Steffen Cost’s know-how and expertise.” A German-Chinese management team will support the new manager – the two Vice Presidents, Yao Fei and Phil Li, Sales Director Jörg Breuer, and Marketing & Product Management Director Thiemo Jahnke.

Cost also quoted in the press release: “GWM is an extremely promising new player in Europe, with a lot of innovative power and convincing product quality. I am very much looking forward to the new task.”

Source: Info via email; in German