Great Wall Motors has showcased its sub brands, Haval and ORA Electric at the ongoing 2020 Auto Expo. Haval's main focus is on SUVs whereas the ORA showcased the R1 urban electric hatchback. Surprisingly, GWM ditched the ORA branding and came up with Great Wall Motors R1.
Basically it's the same ORA R1 but has been rebadged to show the dominance of GWM and to create less confusion in the mind of visitors. GWM might also launch it with the same moniker 'GWM R1'.
ORA stands for Open, Reliable and Alternative. You might mistake the R1 as the Honda E electric hatchback as it sports the same sort of silhouette but it doesn't have any connection with that. It sits on the Pure electric ME platform a 33 kW motor. The battery is also rated at 33kWh pack and offers a range of 300 km in a full charge.
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The front has circular projector headlamps and a flat grille with charging port in the middle. It is a four-door hatchback but only the front two windows open whereas the rear windows are hinge based and can't be opened to the max.
Coming to the interiors, it gets digital dials, multifunction steering wheel, 8-inch touchscreen system with connectivity features, AC, electrically adjustable ORVMs, electric parking brake, rear parking sensors, front power windows and other features which will be shared later at the time of its India launch.
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The gear selector (not mechanically, it's electric!) has been placed in the middle with R, N and D gears. There might also be regenerative braking which was not visible as the infotainment was not operatable. Great Wall Motors might assemble the R1 in the Talegaon plant which they bought from General Motors and sell it in our market. There is no launch timeline revealed but we might see these small cute electric cars on our roads near 2021.
