Great Wall News

Haval has unveiled a new F5 SUV and an upgraded H6 SUV at this week's Beijing motor show, but Australia must wait for a new-generation platform and right-hand drive before they hit local showrooms.

Great Wall Motors Australia (GWMA) has discovered that the inclusion of extra safety equipment has not helped the facelifted Steed workhorse avoid another damning two-star safety rating.

After recently announcing that it was looking to revive its business in Australia, China's Great Wall has confirmed its new dual-cab ute will be called the Steed.

Australia’s cheapest ute: Great Wall Motors announces new model. But how many dealers will sign on after they were left without cars to sell for two years?

The Chinese brand that boldly claimed it was going to conquer the automotive world and become Australia's biggest seller of SUVs has stalled on the starting line.

Weeks after it was revealed Sherrin had dumped its Victorian leather supplier, and Akubra was ditching Australian rabbit skins, News Corp Australia can now reveal no local car company will produce a vehicle called a "ute" when the Falcon ute finishes production next year.Ford will instead opt for the term "pick-up" for its Ranger replacement, while Holden, although not keen to comment, appears to have resisted labelling its Colorado a ute, instead calling it a "truck" in marketing material.Ford invented the utility vehicle in 1934, giving the world the term "the ute"Japanese, German and Chinese makers have no qualms in calling their vehicles utes.The move is all the more drastic for Ford, which invented the utility vehicle in 1934, giving the world the term "the ute".Ford brand communications manager Neil McDonald said the traditional Falcon "ute" and its successor, the newer Ranger "pick-up" were different vehicles."As far as Ford is concerned, a ute in the traditional sense has a monocoque chassis, where the body is part of the chassis," he said.Mazda, Volkswagen and Great Wall use the term ute, despite their vehicles being the same style as the Ranger and Colorado.

Owners of luxury European models and are up to four times as likely to be caught breaking the law compared to Japanese or Korean makes.Analysis of SAPOL and Transport Department figures shows Mercedes drivers are by far the worst in the state, recording 0.824 fines per vehicle in 2014/15.This compares to the least-fined of the large manufacturers, Isuzu with only 0.186 fines per car.Experts at a loss to explain the bias against luxury cars, and police have denied they give the drivers special treatment.Some of the more expensive vehicles are capable of extremely rapid accelerationIt is the first time the figures have become available because of a Weatherill Government reform called "open data", in which government departments are forced to release large amounts of information on their websites.RAA Senior Manager Road Safety, Charles Mountain said the nature of luxury cars, rather than driver behaviour may be to blame."Modern vehicles, particularly some of the more expensive vehicles are capable of extremely rapid acceleration and insulate the driver to such an extent that it may mask a driver's perception of speed," he said."Irrespective of the vehicle being driven, whether it be a luxury import or a reasonably priced runabout, it is important for their safety and that of other road users that they drive to the conditions and abide by the prevailing speed limits on the roads on which they are travelling."The type of vehicle doesn't determine if police take action, it is based on the nature of the offendingWhen asked a series of questions about the issue, SAPOL issued a one line response: "The type of vehicle doesn't determine if police take action, it is based on the nature of the offending".While Holden drivers amassed the most fines in 2014/15 with 72,847 there are 239,804 Holdens on the road.In comparison, Mercedes drivers were hit 13,157 times for only 15,959 registered vehicles.Only two non-luxury brands were in the top ten and six in the top 20 fined-per-registered-car for 2014/15.Other than Holden, which was the eighth most fined vehicle on the road, none of the large-volume, inexpensive makes is in the top 25 of most fined vehicles.There are some exceptions however, with the low-volume Dodge and Proton makes ranking second and third, Ferrari ranking thirty fourth and Jaguar thirty eighth.One of the cheapest vehicles on the road, the Chinese Great Wall is ranked highly at sixteenth.(Make - fines per car - total fines)1 Mercedes - 0.824 - 13,157 2 Dodge - 0.377 - 3183 Proton - 0.356 - 2684 Renault - 0.350 - 11495 Saab - 0.346 - 3886 Range Rover - 0.345 - 3517 Audi - 0.326 - 20748 Holden - 0.316 - 72,8479 Mini - 0.313 - 33110 Fiat - 0.309 - 31011 Daewoo - 0.305 - 147512 Jeep - 0.313 - 227013 Lexus - 0.293 - 95114 SsangYong - 0.289 - 21415 BMW - 0.284 - 503216 Great Wall - 0.284 - 290

One in four SUVs still lack rear view cameras – even though the technology is now standard on a $14,990 hatchback.

China's automotive invasion appears to have faltered after a strong start.

Chinese made Great Wall V200 ute scores three stars for safety as sales continue to fall. The reputation of Chinese utes has taken another hit as the latest crash tests award just three stars out of five for safety -- and sales continue to freefall after the asbestos scare of 2012. The Great Wall Motors single-cab ute is one of the cheapest workhorse vehicles used by tradies, with a starting price of $18,990 drive-away. But according to independent crash test authority -- the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) -- the Great Wall Motors single-cab trayback ute scored a “poor” three-star rating out of a possible five. This is a modest improvement from the two-star rating scored for other Great Wall utes in 2009 and 2010, in which the airbags proved ineffective at improving the safety score. In the latest crash test at 64km/h the Great Wall ute’s “compartment lost structural integrity, accelerator pedal movement was excessive, and steering column components were a potential source of knee injury for the driver”, said the ANCAP report, which awarded just 6 points out of 16 for the offset test. The safety of trade vehicles has historically lagged behind that of passenger cars, even though utes are now the third-biggest vehicle category after small cars and SUVs. However, under new Occupational Health and Safety guidelines, many companies are now enforcing a five-star policy when purchasing utility vehicles. The Volkswagen Amarok was the first ute to be awarded a five-star safety rating in Australia, in 2011, but several other brands have followed since, including the Ford Ranger, Holden Colorado, Mazda BT-50, and certain Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max models. The Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton score four stars for safety but are due to be replaced by all-new five-star models next year. The poor safety result for the Great Wall Motors ute comes as sales figures show Chinese vehicles are no longer a threat to the established brands. Sales of Chinese vehicles have been in freefall in the two years since 21,000 Great Wall utes and SUVs and 2250 Chery passenger cars were recalled for having engine parts containing asbestos. At their peak in 2012, more than 12,100 Chinese vehicles were sold locally. But so far this year just 2500 Chinese vehicles have been sold, a dramatic drop of 54 per cent from the same period last year. There are now at least seven Chinese automotive brands on sale in Australia but Great Wall and Chery are the largest; the others are yet to publish sales figures. A spokesman for the Australian distributor of Great Wall Motors, Chery and Foton said the established Japanese car makers had come down in price, putting pressure on Chinese brands. “The massive devaluation of the Japanese Yen … has meant that well established Japanese vehicle brands are able to be much more competitively priced in the Australian market than was the case when Great Wall launched here in mid 2009,” said spokesman Daniel Cotterill. He said emerging brands traditionally compete on price, but that price advantage had all but evaporated over the past two years. “Where once a Great Wall ute might have had six or seven thousand dollars of price advantage over an established Japanese brand, that is not the case at the moment in many instances,” said Cotterill. “Currency fluctuations are cyclical and we remain optimistic that our competitive price position will return.” The Chinese car sales downturn comes as another division of Great Wall Motors has signaled its intention to set up in Australia under the Haval brand name. However, the all-new Haval SUV that was due in Australia this year has been delayed indefinitely after it was withdrawn from sale in China twice because of build quality concerns.