From a humble, simple and inexpensive single-model ute launched to a ready Australian customer base from 2012, the brand subsequently drifted. Now, with the promise of technological expansion and a growing SUV line under the Haval name, the market asks if it is finally the Chinese steamroller we had been expecting.
Great Wall’s subsidiary Haval, seen in Australia with three distinct models, this month launched its fourth SUV, the H6, into the exploding medium-size market. H6 is China’s top-selling SUV at about 41,000 units a month, making it the world’s fifth best-selling SUV.
Haval plans at least 250 sales in the remaining four months of 2016. It has slashed prices by $2000 and included on-road costs – a total discount of about $5000 – to make its mark. The H6 for 2016 starts at $29,990 drive away.
Haval’s ute brand, Great Wall, this week similarly shrugged off its past with a makeover model called Steed and plans to increase that line from early in 2017 with additional body options. Prices for 2016 have been reduced by $1000 to as low as $24,990 including all on-road costs. Expectations are that at least 5000 will be sold in 2017.
Behind the product is the rebuilding of a dealer network that inherits many of the loyal sales points that made previous distributor Neville Crichton’s Ateco Automotive a historic spearhead in China’s fledgling automotive export dream.
Haval and Great Wall now operate under a factory-backed management team that has no carry-over employees, except the dealers.
Haval’s chief marketing manager Tim Smith said that, at its peak, Ateco had 72 dealers.
“We have 51 now but we would like a few more, especially some of the previous dealers,” he said.
“I take pride in the fact that our hard work continues to attract new dealers from around the country to join the brand.
“At our dealer conference this week we will welcome two new dealers from Adelaide and West Melbourne to continue the steady growth of Haval.”
Feeding the dealerships are four Haval SUV models – the latest, the H6 was launched this week – and one Great Wall ute, the Steed. Next year Haval will add another SUV, the H7, while Great Wall will introduce cab-chassis and single-cab variants.
National marketing manager Bill Soo said: “We have enormous potential with these brands.
“We have systems and procedures in place, we have the dealer’s support and training, we have the parts and service available,” he said of Great Wall’s rejuvenation of its first-generation Steed ute.
“We have had an 11 per cent growth in 2016 against an overall market increase of 2.8 per cent.”
Mr Soo believes the origins of Great Wall and Haval are similar to Kia and Hyundai.
“In Australia we have a small team that can respond quickly to customer issues,” he said.
“We are very hands-on and are very similar to Hyundai and Kia. But in terms of sales, we think we’ll get there a lot quicker than them.
“I believe that within five to 10 years, we will be a major player in the Australian market.”
Though Great Wall and Haval are the same company in China, the Australian operation divides the names into commercial utes and SUVs.
“Haval will not move out of the SUV segment in Australia,” Mr Soo said.
“Great Wall will also not move from utes. In China, Great Wall makes passenger cars but that won’t happen here.”
Great Wall aftersales manager Tony Carraturo said that despite the “challenging” beginnings, the Chinese company is determined to restore confidence in the brand.
“Confidence comes with hard work and focus and getting systems and procedures in place to ensure the customer has parts available, that dealers are well trained and, in the event of an issue, getting them back on the road without any fuss.
“We will rebuild Great Wall through what we do and not just what we say.
“We will honour the (previous) warranty commitments. We have dedicated warranty and customer staff in Australia and New Zealand and we will have parts in our warehouses in Melbourne and Auckland.”
When asked why Great Wall has returned to the market, Mr Carraturo said that the case for the brand was tied to the growth in the ute segment.
“In the past three years the ute segment has exceeded 170,000 units and on a pro rata from VFACTS, we are expecting to see a market of close to 200,000 this year,” he said.
“We believe this growth is because of splitting of the market into leisure and workhorses. This is where we see Steed coming in.
“It is effectively a well-priced workhorse with luxury and specification to make it special. But our core is to deliver a workhorse ute that’s built tough and built to deliver.”
Mr Soo said new products from Haval will arrive quickly. One under consideration is a plug-in hybrid that uses a 2.0-litre petrol engine and electric motors.
“The plug-in hybrid is similar to the Volvo XC90,” he said.
“If it is available to us, it will come in the H7 body.
“I think that hybrid may be possible in 2018. But we want to see the performance details.
“We won’t bring a hybrid in just for the sake of a hybrid. Some manufacturers have struggled with selling plug-in hybrids.
“Of course, a lot of it will come down to price. We can’t bring it in if the price is too high. It needs to be justifiable before we’ll consider it for Australia.”
Mr Soo said Great Wall-Haval was also looking at the possibility of a higher grade model range. He added that it was only at the point of discussion in China and no other details were available.
“China wants to increase the number of products and bring in crossovers in niche sizing, so you’ll have small-medium, medium, medium-large, large and so on,” he said.
“That can work in a huge market like China but may not work here.”
By Neil Dowling
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