BEIJING/GUANGZHOU/MUNICH (Nov 22): China's Great Wall Motor has gained domestic regulatory approval to build a factory in China together with BMW, it said on Friday, paving the way for the German carmaker to develop and build a low-emission Mini.

Since February 2018, BMW which sells a little more than two million cars a year, and Chinese SUV manufacturer Great Wall which sold around one million vehicles last year, have tried to share the costs of building a low-cost electric vehicle on a joint platform to be used by both brands, but the project ran into regulatory hurdles.