Max Warburton of BernsteinResearch reckons the firm may now be generating 4-5% margins, despite its clapped-out range of models.

ECONOMIST: General Motors' IPO

Finally, as Max Warburton, an analyst with Bernstein Research, notes, GM has suffered as much from a price problem as from a cost problem.

ECONOMIST: The bankruptcy of General Motors

That gave Great Wall, at least temporarily, the global auto industry's fattest gross profit margin at 28 percent, according to Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton.

NPR: China's Struggling Automakers Jump On SUV Boom

To understand the importance of the mix, says Max Warburton of Bernstein Research, compare the cost of producing a small car such as the popular Fiat 500 with that of making a hulking sport-utility vehicle such as the Audi Q7.

ECONOMIST: The car industry