Great Wall Motor H8 listing timetable

Great Wall Motor’s “Fourth Science and Technology Festival” kicked off in Xushui, Hebei. The twice-delayed Haval H8 has become one of the focus of attention. Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, “brought the bottom” for the first time: High-speed operating noise originated from the rear drive reducer and revealed that the Haval H8 is expected to be on the market in January 2015.

Prior to this, Haval H9 is expected to be listed first in around the beginning of November. In addition, Great Wall Motor's product strategy will be adjusted, the car business will be suspended, and production and R&D resources will be focused on SUV business.

H8 is on the market

"We have already found the reason for the noise problem in the H8 high speed condition. We are currently organizing experts to carry out intensive commissioning." Since the previous two listings were suspended twice, Great Wall Motor's general manager Wang Fengying attended the Great Wall on September 20th. During the fourth science and technology festival of the automobile, it was very cautious about the new listing time of H8. When the China Securities Journal reporter asked whether H8 could be listed before the end of the year, Wang Fengying said after a moment of thinking, “We try to fight for it.”

The Haval H8 is an important model that can influence Great Wall Motor's SUV business. If it can succeed, Haval H8, taking the high-end route, will greatly enhance its brand image and premium capability, allow its own brand cars to break through the “ceiling” of 200,000 yuan, and broaden the market scope of Great Wall Motor’s SUV business. However, Haval H8 has always been ill-fated, on the evening of May 8 this year, Great Wall Motor announced that the Haval H8, scheduled to be listed on November 21, 2013, will be delayed. This is because once Great Wall Motor’s announcement on January 14 has been postponed due to quality issues, it will stop again.

"There is a knock on the drive system at high speeds," which is the only problem with the second suspension of the Haval H8. Since the official statement of Great Wall Motor is relatively general, many speculations have emerged in the market, such as the resonance of the driveline components, Mercedes-Benz's request for ZF (ZF) to stop supplying products, and so on.

On the day of the festival, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, gave a definite answer: The reason is the rear drive reducer. “We had made it clear in our public statement at the time, but some people did not believe it, resulting in a lot of rumors.” Wei Jianjun said that the source of the noise has been found, and the problem lies in the location of the rear drive reducer. Wei Jianjun further explained: "This problem exists in many rear-wheel drive vehicles. It is only that our noise is even more serious. At present, we are organizing manpower to conduct adjustments. This mainly depends on experience, so it will take some time."

For the time when the Haval H8 was re-listed, Wei Jianjun also expressed caution. In an interview with a reporter from the China Securities Journal, Wei Jianjun stated that the adjustment of the rear drive reducer will take time, and the H8 pass rate for trial production in the Xushui Phase I plant will not meet the requirements, so it will be difficult to market before the end of the year. It is expected to be in January 2015.

During the test ride, after the Haval H8 speeds up to 170 km/h, it can hear more pronounced dryness, and the drive system does not have a knocking sound; when the speed is reduced to 80 km/h, the interior sounds well. . "The original noise, we call it "knocking teeth," there is a widespread buzzing sound," was introduced by the Great Wall auto tester. After the adjustment of the rear drive reducer, the "knocking tooth" phenomenon has been resolved. The follow-up may also need to continue its efforts in resolving the consistency.

In addition, during the visit to the Xushui plant area, Great Wall Motors staff introduced that the first phase of the plant has begun normal production, including the production lines for stamping, painting, and assembly. The annual production capacity is 250,000 vehicles. In addition, the second phase of the plant is in the interior decoration stage.

H9 "soon to go public"

Under the backdrop that the Haval H8 is expected to be listed by the end of this year or early next year, the launch date of Haval H9, another highly regarded model of Great Wall Motors, will be advanced.

During the “Science and Technology Festival”, a reporter from the China Securities Journal interviewed several senior executives of Great Wall Motors, including Wei Jianjun and Wang Fengying. They all said in unison that the Haval H9’s time-to-market was “very fast”. An executive who declined to be named said that the current listing work is under intense preparation and is expected to be around the beginning of November. Prior to this, it was widely expected that the Haval H9 will debut at the end of this year. Obviously, the time for listing will be significantly advanced.

An industry source said that auto companies will maintain a certain rhythm of the model market, if Haval H8 is listed early next year, then Haval H9 must be about 2 months earlier, so as to avoid overlapping news and marketing promotion. Although there are differences between the two vehicles, Haval H9 uses a non-loaded body structure, and is a 7-seat car, but Haval H8 and H9 are essentially high-end SUV models.

In the case of hot SUV products, and successive models are expected to be listed in succession, Great Wall Motor’s car business appears to be somewhat embarrassing, and may even be “strategically” abandoned. “The Great Wall is the only car that can earn money when it comes to self-owned brands in China. The highest price for cars is also the Great Wall. However, it is indeed an adjustment period for our product strategy. Our car has two models C50 and C30, and there is no follow-up. The development of cars on this platform is also the main reason for the decline in car sales,” said Wei Jianjun. “In the next 3-5 years, the car business will be suspended, and we will focus on the SUV.”

Wang Fengying also said that the car brand will have important adjustments. In the future, even if the development of the car business is resumed, brands, models and other plans will also undergo tremendous changes, and they may turn to high-tech products that are fashionable, technological, and dynamic.

At present, the A-class sedan market is the most competitive market segment in the domestic auto industry. Under the continuous exploration of joint venture brands, the survival space of independent brands has been gradually compressed, and successful brands including the Great Wall have rarely been successful. Since 2008, Great Wall Motors has been trying out sedan products, but brands such as Delicatessen, Genie, Lingao, and Cool Bear have all ended in failure. In 2010-2012, Great Wall launched the sedan brand “Tengyi” and subsequently launched the C30 and C50, the car business began to turn for the better; 2012-2014, product update speed failed to keep pace with the market, competition models gradually increased, sales of C30, C50 and other models began to decline.

Electric cars and wearable devices unveiled

On the side of the main venue of the "Science and Technology Festival", a Great Wall C20R pure electric vehicle attracted many people's attention. Compared with the Haval H8, H9, and RVs that were shown at the same time, this C20R pure electric car is a mystery and is the only prototype with a locked door.

According to the staff, the car is still in trial production, but it will consider launching a production version in the future. First of all, in terms of appearance, the Great Wall C20REV and ordinary gasoline version of the car is not much difference, retaining the C20R design features, and the future of the car's charging jack will be set in the front face LOGO position. In terms of power, the maximum speed of the Great Wall C20REV can reach 160km/h, and the maximum cruising range is 160km. In addition, the car also has a fast charge mode that can complete 80% of the battery charging process in half an hour.

Earlier media reports said that the C20R pure electric vehicle is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery provided by a company in Tianjin, but the scene learned that the latest C20R pure electric vehicle has been switched to Samsung's three yuan battery, improving the endurance .

In addition to electric vehicle products, wearable products also debuted this "Technology Festival." Great Wall Motor displayed a smart watch developed by the company's electrical and electronic engineering researcher. The smartwatch with the remote assistant APP installed is connected with the smart phone, which allows the owner to maintain real-time contact with the vehicle. The owner can obtain information such as the vehicle's charge status and mileage.

According to the staff, this smart watch will not be used in the Hover H8, Haval H9 and other products in the short term, and in the future may assist the owner in real-time understanding of vehicle information after mass production of the C20R pure electric vehicle.