Chinese luxury SUVs on the Wey

Great Wall Motors could eventually launch a second SUV brand Down Under. The new marque, Wey, is set to debut in China in miod-2017 and joins the well-established Haval  brand.

Wey plans to launch in its home market with two production vehicles in mid-2017. The vehicles will be based on the W01 and W02 concepts revealed this week at the Guangzhou motor show in China.

Details are limited at this stage but at 4.4 metres overall, the W01 is a BMW X1-sized vehicle. The W02 is close in size to the BMW X5 at around 4.8 metres in length.

Wey says it’s serious about taking on the likes of Range Rover, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar with its upmarket SUVs. The brand will target young and rich Chinese who have flocked to Haval, now China’s best-selling SUV brand.

The two models will be offered with petrol and hybrid electric powertrains and all the technology required to take on European luxury SUVs, including lane departure warning, lane keep assist, radar cruise control and digital instrument panels not unlike what Audi offers in its top models.

Although China will be Wey's biggest market, Australia and other global markets are being evaluated by the brand. The Wey brand name has been registered in the USA and here in Australia.

Great Wall Motors is yet to comment on Australian imports but a press statement released by the company states the Wey team “will explore the potential for the brand expansion" and that "given the rise of SUV sales, we believe the brand would have enormous appeal”.

If Wey does launch in Australia, expect higher prices for its vehicles than Haval, but lower than its European peers. The Haval H2 small SUV starts at $23,990 in Australia and the flagship H9 large SUV sells for $49,990.

"Our ambition is to make luxury SUVs more affordable for customers and gain worldwide recognition for desirable products made in China," said Great Wall Motors chairman Wei Jianjun.

At the launch of the W01 and W02 concept cars in Guangzhou, former Audi SUV strategist and now Wey CEO, Jens Steingraeber, talked up the marque's ethos, which has been four years in the making.

Parent company Great Wall Motors has invested more than 2 billion dollars into Wey. The company already has over 1600 employees.