Great Wall Motor

Wei Jianjun was born in Baoding, Hebei, China in 1964, where Great Wall Motor is headquartered and where he still resides.

Great Wall Motor was founded in 1984 as a small manufacturer partly owned by a local Hebei government; Wei Jianjun was appointed company director in 1990 and grew it into one of China's leading pickup-truck manufacturers, leading its 1998 privatization and 2003 listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Under Wei's leadership, GWM diversified into multiple brands (GWM, Haval, Wey, Tank, Poer, Ora) covering SUVs, pickups, and electric vehicles, and formed a 2019 joint venture with BMW Group (Spotlight Automotive) to produce electric Mini vehicles in China; GWM sold 1,323,672 vehicles globally in 2025 and reported 2023 revenue of CNY 173.21 billion with CNY 7.20 billion operating income.

Took over as director of Great Wall Motor in 1990 and led the company through privatization in 1998 and a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing in 2003.

GWM became one of the top ten Chinese automobile manufacturers, publicly listed and privatized under Wei's leadership.

Diversified GWM into multiple vehicle brands and formed a 2019 joint venture with BMW Group to produce electric Mini vehicles in China.

GWM sold 1.23 million vehicles globally in 2024 and 1,323,672 vehicles in 2025 across its multi-brand portfolio, with the BMW joint venture (Spotlight Automotive) operating as part of its electrification push.