Great Wall Motor may follow the example of electric car maker BYD Co by becoming another Hong Kong-listed company to turn to the Chinese mainland's market to help fund expansion.

Great Wall has applied to China's securities regulator to sell as much as 304.2 million A shares in Shanghai, about 10 percent of its enlarged capital, to raise 3.17 billion yuan (US$493 million), it said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday.

Based in Hebei Province, the nation's largest sport-utility vehicle maker said the proceeds from the share sale will be used to expand production capacity, including 410 million yuan to add 100,000 units of diesel engine output annually, 570 million yuan for 300,000 units of engines and 520 million yuan for 200,000 units of six-speed manual transmission.

"It's more possible for Great Wall to gain approval this time as the funding is essential to help it boost its market performance," said Wang Liusheng, an analyst at Merchants Securities Co. "Great Wall's strong competitiveness is in pickups and SUVs, but development of its passenger car business may risk its long-term sustainability."

Great Wall applied to list on the Shanghai bourse in 2008 but failed to obtain regulatory approval then.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission will review the new application tomorrow.

Great Wall boosted first-half sales by 39.9 percent year on year to 238,395 units, outpacing the 3.5 percent gain for the overall industry. The sales included exports of 34,197 units, up 27 percent.

It aims to set up 24 overseas factories by 2015.

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