GWM ORA News

The automotive world is at war with Chinese brands like BYD, levelling profit-sinking tariffs designed to protect existing industries. But Australia is set to benefit.

The cost of electric cars is coming down at last and it’s happening fast, too, with big brands slashing prices.

Change is in the air.Carmakers are starting to realise sky high electric car prices won’t cut it in the long term.Demand is dwindling in the giant European and US markets as the cohort of early adopters are now spoken for and it is becoming more challenging to tempt buyers away from cheaper petrol and hybrid vehicles.In the past few months several car makers have slashed prices on their slow - and not so slow - selling electric cars in Australia.Peugeot cut the price of its e-2008 small electric SUV by more than $20,000 to $39,990 drive-away. Only a few days later the company had sold all its remaining stock and the car won’t be on sale until the updated version arrives early next year.Tesla has slashed the price of its Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan several times since the start of April to $55,900 (before on-road costs) and $54,900 respectively.An entry-level Model Y was $65,400, and the same Model 3 was $61,900 - meaning a $9,500 discount on the Model Y and a $7000 saving on the Model 3.That’s a big discount on the two best selling electric cars in Australia by a wide margin.Nissan has axed about $16,000 off the price of the slow-selling Leaf, which now starts at $39,990 drive-away with the longer range e+ model $49,990 drive-away.Ford announced on Friday cuts between $7000 and $8000 of its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV range.It now starts at $64,990 for the base Select grade, $79,990 for the Premium variant and $97,990 for the potent GT version.Ford already lopped up to $7000 off the Mach-E before it went on sale in December last year.Ford Australia boss Andrew Birkic said: “These price reductions offer even greater value to our customers and it makes these great vehicles an option for more people.”Subaru made a similar move with its Solterra, knocking up to $8000 off the price before a vehicle was even delivered to customers.GWM has discounted its Ora small electric hatchback and Renault has generous deals for its Megane E-Tech EV, too.These EV discounts are no longer an isolated incident and are a direct response to cooling customer demand and increasing competition.Luxury carmakers have been struggling to sell their EVs in big numbers too compared to their petrol-powered equivalents.These trends show that outside of early adopters consumers are finding it hard to justify spending the circa-$20,000 price premium for an EV compared to a petrol or even hybrid models.Sales of EVs were down five per cent in April, but are up 32 per cent for the year. That sounds good until you factor in EV sales were up 130 per cent in 2023.By comparison hybrid sales are up more than 130 per cent this year. Car makers such as Hyundai, Kia and Nissan are adding more petrol-electric versions of their cars to feed this demand.Most states wound back their EV incentives at the start of this year but the Federal Government's very generous FBT exemption on EVs should be spurring higher demand.Carmakers finding it hard to move their EVs now are in for a tough time as a wave of Chinese electric brands are set to wash over our roads in the next 12 months.These include GAC, Leapmotor, Smart, Xpeng, Zeekr and more.China has the tech and manufacturing advantage to undercut conventional cars brands. China is the leading producer of batteries and is the closest to bringing the game-changing solid-state batteries to market.These solid-state packs are considered the silver bullet for mass EV adoption. They are smaller, lighter, more energy dense, faster charging and safer than today’s lithium-ion units.They have the capacity to make their cars cheaper than others and they have insanely short life cycles, meaning they can upgrade and improve their vehicles in much shorter time than legacy carmakers.Help is on the way, though.Established carmakers are now preparing to roll out an array of cheap, small EVs targeted at the everyday driver.Volkswagen is the latest brand to confirm it’ll build a circa-$30,000 EV with its coming ID.1 hatchback.That price puts it in the same ballpark as an entry-level Mazda3 or a fully-loaded Mazda2.Jeep and Citroen are rolling out little EVs at a similar price and Kia will launch the EV3 small electric SUV in Australia next month.Kia and Hyundai both have mini EV SUVs in the works with the EV2 and Casper.These kind of cars will have a knock-on effect and will lead to cheaper used electric cars too, which will again spread the zero-emissions motoring to new sectors.The people have spoken: the only true barrier to EV adoption is the high prices but carmakers are listening and help is on the way.

Australia’s cheapest electric vehicle (EV) right now, the GWM Ora hatch, is just the entrée. Mother brand GWM is expected to release an electric vehicle (EV) compact SUV model inside the next 12 to 18 months, giving its Ora EV sub-brand the substantially more volume potential that it needs to succeed in Australia.

The bloody battle for Australia’s cheapest electric car continues with BYD slashing its Ora small car to $35,990 drive-away, with that price applying nationally. All variants in the GWM Ora range now carry national drive-away prices so it’s a little tricky to give an exact change from the old $39,990 list price as tariffs differ by state. Still, the discount is significant, and makes the Ora around $4500-$7000 more affordable than before, depending where you live. GWM’s latest hit follows MG chopping prices of its entry level MG4 Excite to $39,990 drive-away in March to be more competitive with the BYD Dolphin Dynamic ($38,890 before on-road costs). The lower price has been achieved by GWM utilising “continued favourable exchange rates and supply to sharpen Ora pricing”, the company said in a statement. It follows a $4000 price cut in July 2023. GWM has delivered 282 Oras so far this year compared to 688 BYD Dolphin and 1335 MG4 deliveries. There are no changes to Ora specification with the entry-grade Standard Range featuring 18-inch alloy wheels, a 360-degree camera, power seats, and twin 10.25-inch screens for the instruments and multimedia system.Its driving range is rated at 320km WLTP from a 48kWh battery and 126kW/250Nm front-mounted electric motor.  The $40,990 Extended Range’s 63kWh battery bumps range to 420km without any other changes save for keyless entry. Moving up to the Ultra (now $43,990 drive-away) scores a power tailgate, panoramic sunroof, power-adjust mirrors, heated steering wheel and heating/ventilation for the front seats. The $46,990 drive-away Ora GT gets an exterior makeover with sporty Toyota Supra-esque wheels, exterior cladding and red accents but no change to the 126kW electric motor. While GWM has set the latest gauntlet, we don’t expect the EV price wars to end any time soon. In fact, it’s already setting up for another change with the 2025 BYD Dolphin expected to bring cost improvements according to China’s AutoHome. GWM also promised plug-in hybrid powertrains for the Australian market. It’s unclear if that refers to its Haval SUV range, such as the Jolion and H6, or if that’s a teaser for the upcoming hybridised Alpha ute.2024 GWM Ora drive-away pricing 

The thought first hit me as I was steering the MG4 51 Excite - one of Australia’s cheapest electric vehicles, and one that really should be pretty ordinary, given its bargain-basement status.

BMW has finally pulled the covers off its long-awaited and much-leaked next-generation Mini range – well, at least part of it.

GWM (Great Wall Motors) has cut a significant chunk from its Ora electric car’s pricing to better place it against affordable EV rivals the BYD Dolphin and MG4.

Tesla has just revealed that it’ll be bringing out a totally new model and this one could be the most affordable ever. It may even be Australia’s cheapest electric vehicle when it arrives. The truth is, the price will probably still put it out of reach for many Aussies - just like the cost of all electric cars. So why do electric cars cost so much and is it worth waiting for the price to come down

The Cupra Born hatchback is now one of two in its segment to have been awarded five stars by ANCAP against the 2020-2022 rating criteria.