Great Wall's Europe reboot includes premium plug-in hybrid, small EV

China's Great Wall Motors is returning to Europe with a new premium strategy after failing to win over customers for its previous budget vehicles.

Great Wall Europe launched a plug-in hybrid from its premium Wey brand and a more youth-focused electric small car from its Ora brand at the Munich IAA auto show on Monday.

The launch country for Wey will be Germany, followed by either Italy or Spain, then a Europewide rollout, Great Wall Executive Vice President for Europe Johnson Qiang told Automotive News Europe on the eve of the show.

Qiang said Germany was chosen because it is Europe's largest vehicle market and because Wey wants to establish itself as a premium automotive brand. To do that it needs to compete against powerhouses such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

"We have confidence in the product," he said.

Qiang said Ora will start in one of Europe's five largest markets -- Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain -- or in one of the Nordic countries, which include EV-friendly Norway as well as Sweden, Finland and Denmark. He declined to say which market would lead the way.

First deliveries for both brands will start next year.

Difficult first attempt

Great Wall briefly produced vehicles in Europe after it opened a factory in Bulgaria in 2012 to assemble SUVs, pickups and city cars. The plant closed in 2017.

The company's strategy in Europe this time is to move away from budget models and instead target customers who might pay more for increased levels of technology.

Wey's first model is called the Coffee 01, which might not be the final name for the large SUV. Qiang said the automaker will polls customers and fans to determine what to call the SUV. Although he is a fan of the name because coffee is known and enjoyed around the world and it connects to a person's family life, work life and leisure time, he said.

Described as Wey's flagship model, the Coffee 01 measures 4870-mm long, which exceed the BMW X3 (4708 to 4716 mm) but is not as long as the BMW X5 (4922 to 4938 mm).

The Coffee 01's standout feature is a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that offer an electric-only range of 150 km (93 miles) thanks to its 41.8-kilowatt-hour battery.

"That means the car can be driven daily in electric-only mode and there is no range anxiety when you take a longer trip," Qiang said.

The combined power of the SUV's electric motors, one on the front axle and one on the rear, and 2.0-liter gasoline engine is 469 hp, which can push the 2.2-metric ton car to 100 kph (62 mph) in 5 seconds, Vittorio d'Arienzo, who is director Europe product planning & strategy for the Wey and Ora brands, told ANE on the eve of the show. The Coffee 01 also has a nine-speed dual-clutch transmission.

No official WLPT CO2 figures were given.

Technology on board the Coffee 01 includes 5G connectivity, face recognition, augmented reality display and a 14-inch infotainment screen.

Great Wall also claims advanced levels of active safety and other smart features powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. The automaker said the SUV is the first "mass-produced" car to use the chip.

The Ora Cat meanwhile is 4235 mm long. It was given a rounded retro styling in a bid to increase appeal to a younger, urban buyer.

The range of the Cat extends up to 400 km depending on the battery size, according to Great Wall. The 169-hp electric motor gives a 0-100 kph time of 8.5 seconds, Great Wall said.

The technology features of the car includes face recognition, which is also used to detect whether the driver is distracted.

Great Wall claims the car is first in the sector to include a suite advanced sensors, includes what it describes as 5-mm wave radar, to increase the levels of driving assistance.

The Cat has an automated parking feature that is helped by the car recording the last 50 meter of its route, allowing it to reverse into tight spots.

The starting price for the Cat will be about 30,000 euros, Gerald Krainer, who is Great Wall Europe's head of sales and service, told ANE.

Both the Wey Coffee 01 and the Ora Cat can be preordered starting in late 2021 with deliveries starting in the first half of 2022, Great Wall said.

Great Wall has a 50-50 partnership with BMW in China and the two automakers are building a plant to build combustion-engine and electric variants of BMW's Mini brand and Great Wall cars.

Qiang reconfirmed the goal set by Great Wall Chairman Wei Jianjun, who said at the 2019 IAA in Frankfurt that the company would consider building a plant in Europe once again if its sales hit 50,000 units a year.

"Production [in Europe] is in our future," Qiang said, "and we will do it."

Douglas A. Bolduc contributed