Great Wall Motor Aims to Top Jeep in SUV Sales

China's Great Wall Motor Co. says it has set a goal for its Haval brand to surpass Chrysler Group LLC's Jeep marque as the world's top seller of SUVs within four years.

Great Wall's global SUV sales surged 90% to 280,000 units last year. Chrysler sold 701,600 Jeeps, followed by Land Rover, which delivered 316,000 vehicles. Ford and General Motors, which sold large numbers of SUVs in the past, have since replaced many of those models with car-based crossover vehicles.

Great Wall Chairman Wei Jianjun tells reporters the company will to invest 5 billion yuan ($807 million) in 2011-2015 to bolster product development and technology. Great Wall also plans to expand its engineering staff 40% to more than 10,000 employees and is building a huge new R&D center in Baoding, about 100 miles from Beijing, Wei says.

Analysts tell Bloomberg News that Haval's goal will be difficult to meet because the company doesn't sell vehicles in the U.S., which is one of the world's biggest SUV markets. Great Wall's biggest export market is Russia.