What's the difference?
When the GWM Ora showed up in Australia last year, it seemed to rely somewhat on its divisive cutesy looks and sub-$40K entry price to draw attention - and to some extent it worked.
Convincing Australians to buy an electric car is hard enough for any car company, let alone one that doesn’t have the brand cachet of Tesla or the traditional companies.
But an entry price under $40,000 doesn’t apply here, this is the GWM Ora GT: the top of the range for the small electric car.
It’s just had a massive price cut, but is it worth paying more than $10,000 over the price of a base Ora for some extra goodies when simplicity and fun styling was the original selling point?
The 2024 Peugeot e-2008 is the French brand's first electric car in Australia. It sits somewhat awkwardly in the semi-premium end of the scale for a small SUV and has some strong competition from the EV side, too, with the Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV being its direct competitors.
With more affordable options out there, does this little SUV have the goods to back up its sweet looks? I've been driving it for the last week with my family of three to find out for you!
The GWM Ora is a solid electric car for the city with an extremely competitive price, balanced with some flaws that might frustrate some - Android phone owners especially. But the GT variant doesn’t offer enough to justify how much more expensive it is than the variants below.
It has a slightly lower range, no more performance (not that it needs more power), a features list almost identical to the Ultra and arguably loses its appealing cutesy looks.
While the rest of the Ora line-up has its strengths and a cute but daring design, the GT effectively offers only its bark-over-bite styling changes.
If the Ora is on your shopping list, it’s certainly worth checking out the $43,990 Ultra, or even the $40,990 Extended Range if its list of features suits you. But if you for some reason enjoy the GT’s styling, that extra spend might be worth it.
The Peugeot e-2008 GT looks stylish but it’s definitely a compact SUV and that means it will only suit a small family. Or even a grandparent who has to occasionally ferry the grandkids around.
I like how easy it is to park and its stylish packaging but the cabin feels small. The practicality just wasn’t there for my family this week and the price point isn’t quite right for the features you get.
My son liked its looks but didn’t get excited about it.