Great Wall Motors to Go 100% Electric!

Great Wall Motors (GWM) is a Chinese carmaker that has had a presence in Australasia for the past 13 years. They have a dealer network and many petrol and diesel cars on Australian and New Zealand roads. The vehicles have improved greatly since they were introduced as cheap, yet not so reliable, options. My niece bought one and called it a “Great Wally.” Not any more.

It appears that GWM is losing out to BYD in the homeland and so are following BYD’s example and going full EV in the near future. GWM plans to have 80% of its Haval sub-brand become plug-ins (either PHEV or the full Monty) by 2025. That’s only 3 years away! Not only that, but they will stop offering petrol and diesel completely by 2030.

Great Wall Motors also makes the Ora Cat range. They are a set of very good looking sedans expected to launch in Australia in early 2023.

“In Australia, GWM is a factory-backed operation that sells its cars through franchise dealers rather than operating through a third-party distributor,” CarExpert writes. “It’s the second-biggest Chinese car brand in Australia behind MG, having sold 10,684 cars to date in 2022, up 11.6 per cent on the same point in 2021 — but still well behind the 27,525 cars MG has delivered.”

A bit of background from Wikipedia: “Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd.  is a Chinese privately owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Baoding, Hebei. Founded in 1984, it is currently the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in China, with 1.281 million sales in 2021. … The company is China’s largest producer of sport-utility vehicles  and pick-up trucks. In 2021, it was the third largest Chinese plug-in electric vehicle manufacturer in the Chinese market, with 4% of market share, selling under brand names such as Ora and Haval.

“As of October 2021, Australia is GWM’s largest export market. According to official VFACTS reporting from Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), GWM Haval sold a total of 18,384 units in the 2021 calendar year, placing GWM Haval 14th overall on the Australian market, ahead of Honda.”

Wouldn’t it be great to have brands competing at the affordable end of the car buying spectrum? I would hope we would see an electric vehicle below the $40,000 mark next year, especially as most Australian states now have subsidies in place.