The Chinese corporation Great Wall Motor, which owns the Haval, Tank, Wye, Ora and Poer automobile brands, held a press conference this week at which it shared the interim results of its work in Russia and made several announcements.
The Chinese concern today is the only one that has its own full-cycle production of cars in Russia, which is already remarkable. What began as an experiment on the part of Great Wall Motor in 2019 has now turned into an undeniable advantage. In addition, this year the company finally launched an engine production line near Tula. So the company has already fully launched localization of production for some models. Even this year, GWM Russia completed the formation of a line of cars in our market, introducing such brands as Wey and Ora (launch in 2023, but in fact the cars appeared in 2024), thereby closing almost all niches in which there is demand from the outside domestic buyer.
Moreover, GWM’s formed line of brands is quite remarkable; they all play in their own niches and practically do not overlap, like some competitors. Judge for yourself. The Haval brand, which this year the manufacturer divided into two different directions – Haval City and Haval Pro, offers crossovers in the mass segment, from the inexpensive Jolion to the very advanced H9. The Tank segment is dedicated to premium frame SUVs, while the Poer segment is dedicated to the pickup truck segment. The new Wey brand completely covers the niche of current and modern hybrids in the premium segment, while Ora is a brand of all-electric vehicles.
Now some numbers. In the first 9 months of this year, GWM sold 168,100 new cars in Russia, which already significantly exceeds the results of the entire last year, when the company sold 138,400 units of equipment. The majority of sales came from the Haval brand, under which 140,600 vehicles were sold. The locomotive of the brand, unsurprisingly, is the entry-segment crossover Jolion; the model received an update this year, and was chosen by 64,600 customers. In second place is the Haval M6 model, which was purchased in the amount of 27,800 units. And the third is completed by the Haval F7, which was purchased in the amount of 22,500 cars (total of the previous and new generation).
The premium brand Tank also shows active sales dynamics, with 22,000 cars sold over the past 9 months. Here, the more affordable Tank 300 model has a slight advantage, which sold 13,000 copies. Although Tank 500 is also popular, it was chosen by 9,000 people.
The new Wey and Ora brands are sold in significantly smaller quantities, but still not bad for their segment. Especially considering that they have just entered the market and do not have their own dealer network, occupying a corner of the Tank showrooms.
But the Poer pickup truck brand shows very good sales figures for its segment. A total of 4,907 vehicles of the brand were sold, which allowed GWM to become number one in the Russian pickup truck market.
The popularity of Great Wall Motor cars in our market is due not only to the fact that the brand has been represented here since 2014. Buyers are also attracted by the wide dealer network, which the company is modernizing and expanding. And besides this, good after-sales service conditions.
According to forecasts, the volume of the automotive market in Russia this year will be 1.7 million new cars, and GWM aims to sell 245,000 units of equipment in 2024, thereby occupying 14% of the market. I don’t know, in my opinion, the forecast is very optimistic given the tightening of monetary policy by our regulators.
By the way, the dynamics of Great Wall Motor’s launch of new cars in Russia in 2024 were crazy; the company launched 11 models, which sets a record. In 2025, everything will be calmer, the manufacturer is talking about only 5 launches, so it will spend most of its energy on promoting previously presented cars.
From what is already known. By the end of the year, a new hybrid minivan under the Wey brand will arrive on our market, with which GWM will occupy another, almost free niche in the market.
And in the first quarter of 2025, the new Tank 400 will be presented, which will fit between the company’s existing models (Tank 300 and Tank 500) and will likely become the brand’s main sales driver.
And the final touch of the press conference was the information that due to the successful launch of the new Haval F7 with Yandex services on board, the company decided to integrate these developments into other models of the concern. Thus, owners of some other GWM cars will also have at their disposal solutions from a domestic company that cover almost all the needs of motorists in this direction.
Source: mobile-review.com
