Great Wall Motor (GWM), following Chery, relies on a multi-brand policy in the Russian market in order to occupy the maximum possible number of niches. Ora and Wey will soon join Great Wall's parent brand, Haval, and Tank, which recently debuted in our country.
Chery's aggressive multi-brand strategy is bearing fruit: the cars of this Chinese company and its subsidiaries (Exeed, Jaecoo, Jetour, Kaiyi, Omoda) now dominate the Russian market among foreign automakers, and GWM takes an honorable second place.
Andrey Akifiev, Executive Director of Havale Motor Rus LLC, said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper that GWM does not seek to become the No. 1 foreign automaker in Russia, but wants to dominate the SUV segment (SUVs and crossovers). Cars of the Ora and Wey brands will appear in Russia before the end of this year, they should significantly expand the company's customer base.
The current flagship of the Wey lineup is a large three-row crossover Blue Mountain (aka Lanshan) with an overall length 5156 mm and wheelbase 3050 mm.
The Wey brand was launched in 2016, its name is a tribute to the Wei family who founded GWM, Wei Jianjun (aka Jack Wei) is still the chairman of the company. Wey is positioned as a premium brand, in our country its main rival will obviously be Exeed. The modern Wey model line consists mainly of various crossovers, almost all of them are plug-in hybrids, despite the fact that, according to Andrey Akifiev, the attitude towards hybrids in the Russian Federation is ambiguous, their advantages to Russian customers will have to be carefully explained. By the way, in China, all Haval models will also soon become hybrid – this is the decision of the GWM management.
Recently, the Wey range of crossovers has been diluted by the Alpine minivan (aka Gaoshan), and it also has a plug-in hybrid power plant.
Wey, unlike Haval, has not yet been able to take a leading position in the domestic market; for it, entering the Russian market is a good opportunity for business development.
Ora is an electric car brand launched in 2018, its current model line is made up of funny retro-style cars, the basis of sales is the Good Cat subcompact hatchback (aka Funky Cat, aka Haomao) – it was with this model that the Ora brand entered the European market last year and, judging by Andrey Akifiev’s description, it will debut in the Russian Federation. Thanks to its interesting design, Ora Good Cat can become a car sharing star and an alternative to the Mini cars that have left our market. Ora Good Cat is equipped with a single electric motor on the front axle with a capacity of 143 or 171 hp. and a battery with a capacity of 47.8 or 63.1 kWh. Last year, Ora Good Cat received the maximum 5 stars in the Euro NCAP rating.
Ora Good Cat 1/3 Ora Good Cat 2/3 Ora Good Cat 3/3
The cars of new Chinese brands for the Russian Federation will be quite expensive, but, unfortunately, we are no longer accustomed to this. The localization of the Ora and Wey models is not yet planned, the Haval plant in the Tula region is currently operating at the limit of its capabilities, but the company is considering various options for increasing productivity in the future.
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