Affordable EV priced ahead of Oz arrival

GWM has priced its first electric small SUV from its Ora sub brand ahead of its expected confirmation for Australia.

The Ora 5 small SUV hits the Chinese market with two battery options across five variants, sharing the majority of its styling cues with the Ora hatch already offered in Australia.

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It has two battery sizes: a 45.3kWh or a 58.3kWh unit offering 480km or 580km of range measured to the more lenient CTLC standard. A single 150kW electric motor drives the front wheels.

Inside it scores some of the more important upgrades for the Ora range, including the new switchgear, screens and operating system from the latest GWM products.

Equipment highlights include a 15.6-inch multimedia panel with an array of clearly Mini-inspired physical toggles, a wireless phone charging bay, digital instrument cluster and synthetic leather seats.

It also scores a re-designed console with more space thanks to a stalk-mounted shifter, and it also has a new two-spoke steering wheel.

The Chinese-market version has the brand’s latest safety and autonomous driving hardware with a roof-mounted lidar array, which is usually left out for Australian specified cars.

Expect at least some level of colour customisation, with the Chinese market car offering an array of interior colour schemes.

In China, the Ora 5 starts from the equivalent of A$23,577 for the most basic short-range version, spanning up to A$31,000 for the top-spec long-range version. It is worth noting that prices don’t often translate directly, with a 15 - 20 per cent premium usually added.

The Ora 5 will have to be keenly priced as it will face-off against BYD’s incoming Atto 2 (expected to start in the early $30k region), as well as the Leapmotor B10 (from $38,990) and Chery E5 (also from $38,990).

While the Ora 5 is yet to be officially locked in for the Australian market, Chief Operating Officer of GWM’s local operation John Kett recently told CarsGuide the company’s Ora sub-brand will have a bigger role to play in the future.

This is said to include a small SUV (seemingly the Ora 5) in 2026, with a view to adding a larger mid-size SUV down the track, and adding to Kett’s comments, the brand’s head of marketing and communications Steve Maciver also suggested the possibility of expanding the appeal of the Ora brand by adding plug-in hybrid drivetrains as a pitch to keep up with rivals like Leapmotor and Geely, as this is what customers were frequently telling GWM dealers they wanted in the Ora hatch form-factor.

Expect to learn more about GWM’s plans for its Ora sub-brand imminently. A refreshed version of the hatchback with significant upgrades (as well as a change in manufacturing from China to Thailand) has just launched, with prices starting from $35,990.