No Wey for Australia

No Wey today… Or tomorrow.

That’s the prognosis for GWM’s luxury car marque, Wey, being launched in Australia, as the Chinese car-maker’s local importer instead seeks to bolster the four brands it has already established here.

Sales of several Lexus-rivalling Wey models have already commenced in Europe and it’s understood right-hand drive production is underway for many of them, including the jaw-dropping Wey 80 people-mover and the just-launched Wey 07 prestige SUV, which carsales recently tested.

But GWM Australia and New Zealand marketing and communications chief, Steve Maciver, said the lavish vehicles are currently “not on the needed or wanted list” for Australia.

GWM has four brands in the Australian market right now (GWM Ute, GWM Haval, GWM Tank and GWM Ora) and the local distributor’s current plan appears to be consolidation rather than expansion.

“We are pretty satisfied with the strategy we’ve got with the brand right now, having Haval SUV, GWM Ute, Tank off-road and Ora EV sitting under that GWM master plan.”

He said the current range of vehicles “offers a good, strong selection for Australian consumers,” and that the company needs to be cautious about moving too fast and overcomplicating its product portfolio.

There’s also the price of admission to consider – would Aussie buyers pay top dollar for a Wey vehicle?

The recently-launched Tank 500 tops out at just under $74,000 drive-away, which Maciver said is already “stretching us into new price brackets”, and GWM Australia is considering the release of the circa-$100,000 Tank 700.

He added: “I don’t necessarily think there’s a need to bring another model series or nameplate in there to stretch that any further at this stage.”

Along with established car-makers like MG, BYD and indeed GWM, Chinese brands are pouring into the Australia market en masse, with several new players lining up to do battle Down Under this year, including JAC, Zeekr, Leapmotor, Jaecoo and more.

It’s inevitable that one of China’s ultra-luxury vehicle makers will test the Aussie waters, but for the time being it’s not going to be GWM’s Wey brand.

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