Mercedes-Benz Gls450 vs GWM ORA

What's the difference?

The ‘Upper Large SUV over $120K’ segment of the Aussie new-car market is what you might call the top end of town, not only in terms of the extravagant models available but also their purchase prices, which stretch well into six figures and require monthly lease payments that rival home mortgages.

It’s where you’ll find some of the most prestigious marques in the automotive world including Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover, Lexus and BMW. And, of course, Mercedes-Benz with its big GLS which represents the flagship of the German manufacturer’s SUV fleet.

It was given a refresh in 2023 with cosmetic and multimedia upgrades along with powertrain enhancements, but there have only been minor changes since then. We were recently entrusted with the keys to the latest GLS to see if the ‘S-Class of SUVs’ leaves any room for improvement.

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?