Great Wall announces ambitious goals for Haval SUV brand

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai June 7) - "Over the next three to four years, Haval aims to be the world's best selling SUV brand," Great Wall Motor General Manager Wei Jianjun mentioned in a report appearing in the National Business Daily today. Mr. Wei's statement comes not long after the establishment of an independent sales network for the SUV brand. In addition to the new sales network, Great Wall has is also investing funds to establish independent R&D, production and customer service operations for the Haval brand.

In order to achieve this goal, the manufacturer has announced several new models in the Haval line. The Haval H8, which is scheduled to make its market debut in late October, will be equipped with many new technologies and will directly target the Audi Q5. The H8 will be powered by the new independently-developed GW4C20 direct injection engine producing up to 160 kW and 324 Nm of torque and mated to a six-speed manumatic transmission. The new hybrid-powered H7 will also make its initial debut at that time. The H7, which is driven by a nine-speed manumatic transmission, can be driven for up to 53 km and reach a top speed of 105 km/h in pure electric mode. It is scheduled to make its official market debut in 2015. The H2 is also scheduled to be announced later this year.

The H8, H7 and H2 will all be manufactured at Great Wall's new automobile factory in Xushui, Hebei. The site, which is designed to possess preliminary and final annual production capacities of 250,000 vehicles and one million vehicles, has already begun test production.

Mr. Wei also shared his opinions regarding Great Wall's future plans for the sedan market. "Great Wall will continue to focus its activities in the compact [sedan] market," Mr. Wei said, seeming to hint that the manufacturer will avoid expanding into the midsize and fullsize sedan segments for now. In his analysis, Menutor Consulting Director Feng Shiming believes that it is risky for a manufacturer to focus exclusively on the extremely competitive Chinese compact car market.