Great Wall to relaunch with new Wingle ute

Last week's deferral of an arbitration hearing in China between Great Wall Motors (GWM) and its former Australian importer, Ateco Automotive, has delayed the local relaunch plans for the dormant Chinese brand for at least another two months.

Neither warring party will talk about the dispute until it's resolved, but motoring.com.au understands Great Wall distribution rights will then go to Haval Motors Australia (HMA), the factory-backed outfit set up last year to handle Great Wall's sister SUV brand here.

HMA launched a three-model range with the H2, H8 and H9 'luxury' SUVs last October, and will add the mid-size H6 to its line-up mid-year. The H7, which is expected to debut at the Beijing motor show in April, is due to arrive next year.

Haval's sister brand Great Wall – the first Chinese vehicle brand to hit the Australian market, in 2009 – could be relaunched Down Under by the end of the year if the impasse with Ateco is finalised in April.

However, motoring.com.au sources say that instead of reintroducing the discontinued V240 and V200 utilities, imports of which have not occurred since 2014, HMA will relaunch Great Wall with the newer Wingle 6 ute.

There are no plans to reintroduce the Toyota 4Runner-based X200/X240 SUV, or to launch the VX10 micro-car that Ateco homologated for Australia some years ago, meaning Great Wall will revert to being a ute-only brand here.

Great Wall's sixth-generation Wingle dual-cab was launched in China in April 2014 and received Australian Design Rule certification in November last year.

No Australian specifications are available yet, but in China the four-door, five-seat Wingle 6 measures 5345mm long, 1800mm wide, 1760mm tall and rides on a 3.2-metre wheelbase.

Its cargo tray is 1545mm long, 1460mm wide and 480mm high, ground clearance is 188mm, wheels are 16-inch, steering is hydraulic, brakes are all-disc and suspension is via double wishbones and torsion bars up front and a leaf-sprung live rear axle.

Like the V200/240, two four-cylinder powertrains are offered in China – a 90kW/200Nm 2.4-litre petrol engine matched with a five-speed manual and a 105kW/305Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel with six-speed manual.

Rear-drive and dual-range 4x4 configurations – the latter weighing 80kg more at 1890kg – are produced, both with a 625kg payload, along with two specification grades.

The Wingle 6 equipment list extends to a differential lock, stainless rollbar, side steps, bedliner, canopy, Bluetooth, sat-nav, cruise control, climate control, auto headlights and wipers, multi-function steering wheel, leather trim, heated seats, powered driver's seat, tyre pressure monitoring, rear parking sensors, daytime running lights, ABS/ESC, twin front/side/curtain airbags and a reversing camera.

We understand the Wingle 6 will not be as cheap as the V240 twin-cab, which is still listed from $22,990 drive-away, but would still compete with bargain-basement dual-cabs like the JMC Vigus, Tata Xenon and Mahindra Pik-Up and Genio, all of which are priced from under $25,000 on the road, as well as Ateco's more expensive Foton Tunland and Ssangyong Actyon utes. Ateco also imports LDV vans from China.

However, HMA has many hurdles to overcome before it can relaunch Great Wall here, beyond the arbitration proceedings that are believed to centre on appropriate financial compensation for Ateco's loss of the Great Wall franchise.

Despite sub-standard safety ratings and asbestos-related recalls, about 40,000 budget-priced Great Wall utes and SUVs were sold in Australia over five years, via a national retail network that once spanned almost 100 dealers.

It's believed that number has shrunk to less than 40 after many dealers gave up on the brand following a lack of stock, with sales plummeting from a high of 11,000 in 2012 to just 142 last year.

HMA has plans for 25 dealers to sell Haval vehicles around Australia by the end of this year, but they will not handle the Great Wall brand.

Apart from re-establishing a national dealer network for Great Wall, GWM's decision to pull Ateco's Australian distribution rights without a transition plan means HMA must also institute back-office logistics systems for the brand, for functions including shipping, distribution, parts supply, warranty, service training and customer support.