Haval targets SUV leaders - motoring.com.au
"Cheap isn't in our vocabulary," says Chinese SUV brand seeking top spot in Australia
China's top-selling SUV brand says it will launch an assault on the Australia market from June –
more than six months after it previously said it would -- and has long-term ambitions to be the nation's top-selling SUV brand.
Haval, the premium offshoot of Great Wall Motors, told motoring.com.au it will launch two models within two months here and five models before the end of this year.
According to Haval Motors Australia's chief marketing officer, Tim Smith, the brand also promises to change the reputation of Sino-built vehicles, which have long been regarded as cheap and cheerful.
"We don't understand what cheap means... Cheap isn't in our vocabulary," Smith told motoring.com.au from the Shanghai motor show just minutes before the official unveiling of two new prototype SUVs,
the Concept B and the Concept R.
Haval has chosen Australia as one of its first export markets. Smith says the company will promote its vehicles locally as “luxurious 4WDs”, but it remains to be seen how effective the vehicles will be off-road.
The company has set up operations in the Melbourne suburb of Mt Waverley. Motoring.com.au understands it will also eventually take over distribution of the Great Wall brand, which is currently handled in Australia by Sydney-based independent distributor Ateco Automotive.
Smith says five Haval SUV models will be on sale in Australia via a network of dealerships by the end of 2015. He says dealership locations cannot be confirmed at this time, as the details remain “commercial in confidence”.
Haval started as a single Great Wall model. In servicing the burgeoning Chinese marketplace it has expanded to a range. The local line-up will target existing volume SUV segments.
"We've got the H2, H8 and H9 first, plus H6 and H6 Coupe launching in 2015," said Smith, adding that the small H2 "will be a strong seller".
Priced from the low-$20K mark and roughly the size of a Volkswagen Tiguan, the H2 kicks off Haval's Australian campaign.
"We'll have the H2 and H9 here [in Australia] from June 1 to launch the brand, followed by the H8 from July 1 and the H6 Coupe will come in December [2015]" he said.
The H9 is a seven-seater Toyota Prado-size SUV pitched at family buyers. It will "will start at mid-$40K", according to Smith. The five-seater H8 is similar in size to the Jeep Grand Cherokee and will be priced from around $40,000.
It's the "high-end premium models" that will help build the brand, says Smith. Particular emphasis is being placed on the potential of the H6 and its new H6 Coupe counterpart. Likely to slot into the medium SUV segment, the H6 models will share space with the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester.
"I think the H6 Coupe will be a strong seller. It's probably in one of the most competitive segments," Smith said.
And the burning question – how much?
"It's still a long way off so I can't give you definitive pricing, but it'll be extremely competitive against most premium SUVs in its class," said Smith.
Smith promises the H6 Coupe will be fitted with high levels of standard equipment.
"Everything from dual-clutch transmissions, moonroofs, heated and cooled ventilated seats, massage chairs, blind-spot and parking assistants, fatigue monitoring, tyre-pressure monitoring, advanced intelligent headlights, rain sensors… It'll have every technological aid that you would see in much more expensive luxury cars," observed Smith.
Senior Great Wall executives speaking with Australian journalists at this week’s Shanghai show outlined the brand’s ambitious targets for the local operation.
Great Wall CEO, Wang Fengying, told industry journal GoAuto: “It will take time to achieve the goal, but the goal has been set.”
To become Australia's most popular SUV brand, Haval would have to out-sell the likes of Jeep, which last year sold more than 30,000 vehicles Down Under.
Ms Wang acknowledged the challenges Chinese products have faced Down Under, telling GoAuto: “We have nothing but our products… We will win the confidence of Australians with our products.”
Smith told motoring.com.au dealer plans were well advanced but wouldn't be drawn on the exact numbers of dealers signed on. He said when the Haval brand launches in June 2015, “customers nationwide will have access to the vehicles”.
"I can't go into too much detail because it's commercial in confidence," he said, adding: "We're looking to have national distribution networks, both east and west coast.”