Dongfeng Nammi Box shaping up as a cut-price GWM Ora rival

China’s Dongfeng is inching closer to a full-scale launch in Australia following the news it will use its cut-price Dongfeng Nammi Box EV to spearhead its entry into Europe, where it will be priced from just 21,990 Swiss Francs ($A38,000).

Launching first in Switzerland, the Nammi Box is being positioned as one of the market’s cheapest EVs, suggesting a similar approach could be taken in Australia, where the small hatch will go head-to-head with cars like the BYD Dolphin ($36,890 plus ORCs) and GWM Ora ($35,990 drive-away), possibly even undercutting them on price.

In exchange for your money, you will get a 42kWh battery providing a range of 310km, and a single 70kW drive motor.

Crucial to its Australian chances will be the decision to offer the Nammi Box in the UK, a crucial right-hand drive market, because its low-cost means it won’t be a candidate for local conversion.

Back in our market, Dongfeng is hotly tipped to begin offering its Toyota LandCruiser-sized Mengshi M-Hero 917 within the next 12 months, propelled by battery-electric and/or range-extending hybrid powertrains good for up to 800kW of power.

As carsales has already reported Dongfeng is already in discussions with the Walkinshaw Group to import low volumes of the hard-core off-roader for local right-hand drive conversion.

In China, Dongfeng-Nissan was the country's 12th-best-selling brand in the first half of 2024 selling 328,000 vehicles, whereas Dongfeng-Honda was ranked 16th (236,000 sales).

More than a dozen new Chinese auto brands have declared their intent on entering the Australian market within the next 18 months or so, including XPeng, GAC Motor, Aion, Geely Auto, Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, NIO, Changan, Skywell and Jetour.

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