[wheelguy]

The Great Wall Motors, the China's largest SUV maker, has recently announced its entrance in India with its Haval and ORA brands. The Great Wall Motors will showcase both of its brands at the upcoming Auto Expo 2020. Great Wall Motors (GWM) is also China's largest pickup manufacturer and it owns four brands which include Haval, Wey, Ora and Great Wall Pickup. GWM is based in Baoding Hebei, around 150km south of Beijing, and is currently looking for a suitable location to set up a manufacturing plant in India. News reports suggest that GWM is likely to acquire General Motors' manufacturing facility in Maharashtra.

• Ora R1 electric car gives a maximum mileage of 351 km through its 35 kilowatt motor on single charge. Great Wall Motors sells three EVs under ORA brand - R1, R2 and iQ.

• Ora R1 will also come equipped with artificial intelligence feature along with connectivity feature. The owner can wake up the car by saying, "Hello, Ora"

• The top speed the car will be around 100 kmph.

• The company will provide free servicing for three years or 1.20 lakh kilometers and eight years or 1.50 lakh kilometers.

• The expected price of the car in India will be at $8,680 to $11,293 which translates to ₹6.23 lakh to 8 lakh.

Source: LiveMint

[DarthVeda]

top speed around 100kph and range 351km! so confused, while the speed says it is meant for city, the range says drive me out of city. If they had name the car "Ori" instead of "Ora", it would have been amazing.

[RM Motorsports]

A closer look at ORA R1. Exterior and Interior.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjUEmhP-RNA

[GTO]

Am I the only one who likes this retro-chic design? That is a good-looking hatchback.

Originally Posted by DarthVeda

top speed around 100kph and range 351km!

350 km is believable. We saw almost 300 km in the real world from the bigger & heavier Kona which has a 39 kWh battery.

Max 100 kmph is also believable as top-end performance is a weakness of electric cars. At Buddh, the 25-lakh rupee Kona refused to go over ~162 kmph (indicated).

[Thermodynamics]

Originally Posted by GTO

... top-end performance is a weakness of electric cars...

That's one of the things that goes in favor of mild-hybrids, an under-rated technology, if given adequate attention has potential to bridge the best of both worlds i.e., low end torque like an EV as well as impressive top end performance.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by GTO

Am I the only one who likes this retro-chic design? That is a good-looking hatchback.

#metoo it's a cutie!

But it resembles the Honda e so much. The e will win the beauty pageant in my opinion

[DarthVeda]

Originally Posted by GTO

350 km is believable. We saw almost 300 km in the real world from the bigger & heavier Kona which has a 39 kWh battery.

Max 100 kmph is also believable as top-end performance is a weakness of electric cars. At Buddh, the 25-lakh rupee Kona refused to go over ~162 kmph (indicated).

I meant to say that seeing range one would be inclined to take it for long drives but then seeing the top speed limitation, it would not be advisable.

On the topic of top speed, I believe a certain Rimac C_Two, Taycan have different perspective on your statement

[DicKy]

Honda designs the 'E' and mulls over launching it, dragging their feet and plans to dip their toes in select markets.

Even with all the positive reviews, they are not confident in their own product.

Lo and behold, a Chinese company copies it, at half the price tag of the Honda and is going to launch it in one of the biggest markets.

And Honda's biggest launch in 2020? The City.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

But it resembles the Honda e so much. The e will win the beauty pageant in my opinion

And the Micra too? The silhouette (especially A-pillar to the rear) is so similar:

[RK79]

Like all the other electronic gadgets, the Chinese are likely to be the game changers here too. A practical and affordable car with all gizmos might sell like hot cakes if they market it properly. This might be the beginning of cheap EV cars, and to compete,every other manufacturers will be forced to price their product competitively. Hope the safety and battery pack quality will be at par with industry standards or even better.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Where the Chinese have a hard learning curve in front of them is depth of engineering: tuning of the chassis, suspension and steering for that prefect balance that the Europeans are masters of and companies like Ford also ace. You can't buy this overnight, these skills have to be honed over years. Fortunately for them, they come into play more and more only when the speeds increase. It is far easier to get the balance right at say 50kmph than at 120kmph. These new breed of EVs are basically city friendly cars with limited appeal for those into long distance touring. As such, as long as they ride well at low speeds and have a light steering, most people should be happy. This is anyway the formula Maruti and Hyundai have been following. Nobody here is going to complain about lack of flickability at three digit speeds.