China's Great Wall Motor – making its India debut at Auto Expo 2020 – has made quite a statement with a slew of Haval SUVs at its stand. But it’s not just the SUVs that are attracting attention – another interesting car on display at Great Wall Motor’s Expo stand is the ORA R1 EV.
Internationally, the R1 is sold as part of Great Wall’s ‘ORA’ EV sub-brand (which stands for Open, Reliable and Alternative). The R1 electric car is based on the company’s ME pure-electric platform. It follows the Honda e’s neo-retro city car template, and gets a 33kWh lithium-ion battery pack and a 33kW electric motor. The R1’s range on a full charge is pegged at over 300km (NEDC cycle).
What will be a major draw for the R1 is its affordability. In China, prices for the R1 start as low as CNY 59,800 (Rs 6.15 lakh). It remains to be seen how Great Wall Motor proposes to make the R1 as affordable in the Indian market; though the Chinese carmaker has already announced it will take over General Motors' plant in Talegaon for its India operations.
Great Wall Motor has confirmed that it will launch the Haval brand in our market in 2021, followed by their sub-brand for electric cars – GWM EV. The Chinese carmaker has also made an investment of USD 1 billion (approx Rs 7,123 crore) in its India project.
What do you think of the R1 EV? Let us know in the comments.