Here kitty … Chinese Ora EV brand could soon be in Australia

A decision to launch the Chinese EV brand Ora in Australia could be made within months and its feline-themed model range could be on sale by 2023.

Ora is a division of Great Wall Motors or GWM, which already distributes the GWM Ute and Haval SUV brands in Australia.

Ora has only been in existence since 2018 and made an appearance at the 2021 Munich motor show last week, where it confirmed exports to Europe including the right-hand drive British market by late 2022.

It’s the same sort of timeline the Australian GWM subsidiary would like to implement for Ora here, although that’s far from confirmed as yet.

“Ora still continues to be very much on the radar and we still continue to work on the business case with head office and as yet no decision has been made,” said Haval/GWM Australia marketing and communications chief Steve Maciver.

“Obviously we’ve seen with great interest the car is going to be launched in Europe late next year and we are still trying to work out exactly what that means for us.

“We are keen, but we don’t have a green light as of yet.”

In Munich an attractively google-eyed small five-door hatchback called the Ora Cat was on show. In China it’s known as the Good Cat, where it sells alongside the Black Cat city car, White Cat city car and iQ cross-over compact sedan,

Ora’s also revealed the larger Lightning Cat, the Cherry Cat SUV and an obvious tribute to the VW Beetle, albeit with five-doors, called the Ora Punk Cat and Ora Ballet Cat.

As shown in Munich, the Ora Cat powers its front wheels via a single electric motor making 105kW and 210Nm, accelerates from 0-50km/h in 3.8 seconds and has a top speed of 150km/h.

It has a claimed NEDC range of 400km with a 47.8kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery pack or 45.99kWh ternary lithium pack. A 500km range is claimed with a 59.1kWh ternary lithium battery pack.

Known as Hao Mao in China, it is the first Ora to be built on GWM’s unfortunately named new L.E.M.O.N. (Lightweight, Electrification, Multi-purpose, Omni-protection and Network) architecture. It measures up at 4235mm long, 1825mm wide and 1596mm high.

Maciver has previously hinted Good Cat could go on-sale in Australia under $35,000, which would make it one of the cheapest EVs on the market depending on what other models, such as the BYD EA1, have arrived by then.

“The Good Cat is a small city-sized hatch that has some appeal. It’s the right type of car I think,” said Maciver.

“There are a few options on the table and we are considering what may or may not work for us; there’s been a concept unveiled called the Cherry Cat and there’s also a larger sports EV called the Lightning Cat.

“Every product that’s out there right now is under consideration. But whether we bring one in, whether we bring three in, whether we bring none in, that decision hasn’t been made yet.”

Maciver said Ora was of interest to GWM in Australia because we are now starting to embrace EVs.

“There is no doubt the industry is moving to alternative powertrains,” he said. “We have already announced we are going to have hybrid technology coming in in the Haval brand.

“But if we want to move to EV then Ora is the brand we can do that with, so that gives it appeal.

“The technology itself is pretty good. The range is pretty competitive and there is a growing market here for EV.”

Maciver said there was no deadline for a decision, describing the timeline as “open-ended”. But he was clear that a turnaround from a green light for the project to vehicle arrival could be relatively short.

“You would think with the  brand already established in China establishing it in other regions wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.”

Meanwhile another new GWM brand, Wey, that showed its wares in Munich is less likely to show up in Australia.

The crossover specialist showed a plug-in hybrid SUV called the Coffee 01, which it confirmed would be made in right-hand drive for the UK.

“Wey is not on our radar,” confirmed Maciver. “We have GWM Ute today and we have Haval SUV. Ora EV is on our radar and Tank luxury SUV sub-brand is the other model series on our radar as well.

“That is probably enough to keep us busy for now. If we end up launching all those models that would end up giving us pretty good coverage.”