Haval's new Mazda CX-5 fighter takes shape

Haval will finally offer up a replacement for the ageing Haval H6 in Australia late next year as the Chinese behemoth swings its focus away from local left-hand drive products to improving its fortunes in export markets like Australia.

Speaking to carsales.com.au at Haval’s Baoding headquarters in China, Haval Australia spokesman Tom Zhang said Australia’s H6 would be one of two models: either an (as-yet unseen) all-new H6 or a new version of the F7, a recent addition to Haval range in China, where it’s intended to appeal to younger buyers.

Making it confusing is the sheer variety of vehicles Haval offers in the domestic Chinese market, where it sells a million vehicles a year, and the pace at which it is developing new models.

Australia’s existing, first-generation H6 uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine linked to a Getrag six-speed dual-clutch auto.

However, a new H6 introduced in China last year and available only in left-hand drive has an upgraded 124kW/285Nm 1.5-litre direct-injection petrol four matched with Haval’s own new seven-speed dual-clutch auto with three driving modes (normal, eco and sport).

Based on a new platform, the Haval H6 due next year is likely to use this powertrain, and like the China-only second-gen model it will drive the front wheels only.

The H6 is 4600mm long, 1860mm wide, 1720mm tall and sits on a 2680mm wheelbase.

Safety gear included in the second-gen model and likely to flow onto the new 2020 H6 are adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking.

Meantime, the Haval F7 (which was first seen as the HB03 concept at Shanghai in 2017 and released in China last November), has a 145kW/345Nm 2.0-litre direct-injection petrol four and the same seven-speed dual-clutch auto as the refreshed H6.

Riding on the same 2680mm wheelbase as the new Haval H6, the F7 is slightly longer but narrower and lower, at 4620mm long, 1846mm wide and 1690mm high.

The F7 we drove at the Haval test track near Baoding offered impressive interior space, including almost limousine-like rear leg room.

Up front, there’s a digital instrument cluster, large infotainment screen and rocker shift gear lever. While there are some small inconsistencies in interior presentation (such as hard plastics on upper rear doors but soft on the fronts) the overall impression was of high quality.

Haval confirmed that right-hand drive production of the new H6/F7 will be sourced from a new $RMB500 million plant in Tula, Russia that has just opened and is expected to be able to produce up to 150,000 car a year at full production capacity.

Meanwhile, Haval is also working on a replacement for the H9 large SUV, which will share its ladder-frame chassis and powertrain with the new Great Wall ute due to be unveiled at tomorrow’s Shanghai show.

A Haval representative at Baoding confirmed that the new H9 will arrive in 2021 and, for the first time in the Australian market, it is expected to be offered with a diesel engine -- as expected in the new Great Wall ute, a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel linked to a new eight-speed auto.

The all-new medium SUV can’t come quickly enough for Haval in Australia, where the Chinese brand was only introduced here in late 2016.

Official VFACTS figures showed that Haval sales were down 10.8 per cent in 2018, from 710 to 633 units. Sales of its best-selling model in 2017 with 308 sales, the H6, dropped 41.6 per cent to 180 units in 2018.