Harval H3

Great Wall sold more than 5,000 of its Haval (formerly known as Hover) SUVs and Wingle pickups to Australia in 2009 after starting exports to the market in mid-June, said Roger Gao, a spokesman for the company's international division.

That has made Australia Great Wall's second largest export market, second only to Iraq where the Chinese company sold more than 7,000 vehicles last year, according to Gao.

Great Wall has no assembly plant in Australia. An Australian company called Ateco Automotive distributes its vehicles there, said Gao.

Besides Iraq and Australia, Great Wall's other major export markets are Libya, South Africa and Chile.

In Europe, Great Wall has been selling to Italy for years, Gao said. In 2009, it sold 1,516 units of the Haval SUV and Wingle pickup in the southern European country. It also sold around 200 units of the two vehicles to Romania.

In September 2009, four models of Great Wall - the Florid and Coolbear sedans, the Haval 5 SUV and the Wingle pickup - passed certification for the European Union. The company is now building an assembly plant with a Bulgarian company in Lovech, Bulgaria. The plant is expected to start building the four models for the European market in the first half of 2011.

Due to global economic recession, in 209 Great Wall's total exports slumped by around 40 percent year-on-year to some 35,000 units, Gao said.

"We have yet to set an export target for 2010, but we believe this year's export figures will be better than last year," he added.

Altogether Great Wall sold 225,000 vehicles worldwide in 2009, up 77 percent from 2008, according to figures Great Wall released in a statement.

Growth was driven by domestic sales, which shot up 174 percent year-on-year.

In 2010, the company plans to launch 5 new and redesigned models on the domestic market: the Haval M2 small SUV, a compact sedan that has yet to be named, the Haval H3 and H5 medium-sized SUVs, and the Wingle 5 pickup.