Great Wall Motors expands to Europe with BEV and PHEV models

Chinese automaker, Great Wall Motors, has revealed its plan to expand into the European car market in 2022. The company is unleashing a pure electric compact and a plug-in hybrid SUV on the continent. GWM released the info at the IAA Mobility auto show.

The compact BEV is being sold under the ORA brand and has a range of up to 400 km. Interested buyers for the ORA Cat will be able to place their orders toward the end of 2021. The company is yet to disclose which countries the ORA will be available in.

In terms of features, the ORA Cat has a 63 kWh battery. GWM may offer a variant with another battery pack. Its electric motor produces 126 kW of power and 250 Nm of torque. It will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.5 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 160 km/h.

image source: Great Wall Motors

GWM based the ORA cat on its LEMON electric vehicle platform, and it is already on sale in China. It has an impressive roster of high-tech components that includes radar and ultrasonic radar sensors, four all-around vision cameras, and a front camera. A new-generation Intel chip handles the intensive computation required by the car.

The plug-in hybrid SUV is the Coffee 1and will also be available for pre-orders in Germany in 2021. The car has a range of 150 km on the rather large 41.8 kWh battery alone, a splendid proposition for potential buyers that still have range anxiety. Coffee 1 comes under the WEY brand. The first deliveries will start in the first half of 2022.

The AWD Coffee 01 is GWM’s flagship model. It has internet connectivity with AI to make it one of the most advanced cars out of China. It will produce a total output of 245 kW from its two electric motors. It will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in five seconds and accelerate up to 235 km/h.

The Coffee 01 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip.

GWM has about 40 years of automobile-making history and is active in China, Russia, and India. It ranks high on the list of automakers in China. It will be joining other Chinese brands like Nio, BYD, and Xpeng who are already selling their electric vehicles in Europe.