Chinese manufacturer GWM has packed great confusion into a UK expansion that now includes three brands. Read on to make sense of it all.
Among the several established Chinese car manufacturers now looking to take a slice of the UK car market is GWM, Great Wall Motors. But this company has been in the UK longer than most of its rival Chinese brands, while making possibly the least impact.
An early foray in 2013 with a forgettable pick-up was followed a decade later by the much delayed arrival of a small electric car called the Ora Funky Cat, which was soon renamed after the name amused but did not impress UK buyers.
So the car became the Ora 03 and plans to call the company GWM Ora were tweaked to GWM UK. Another brand has since been added, called Haval, and GWM is now also trying the pick-up route again with a new model.
So who or what is GWM Ora?
Great Wall Motors is the eighth-largest automotive manufacturer in China; formed in 1984 – the name of course is inspired by the Great Wall of China – the company is today best known for its SUVs and pick-up trucks and in 2024 sold 1.23 million vehicles across the world.
GWM made an almost unnoticed foray into the UK market in the early 2010s with a forgettable light pick-up called the Steed, but the company has made major progress since then on the back of the move to electric power.
This move led to the formation in 2018 of sub-brand Ora, standing for ‘Open, Reliable and Alternative’, and designed from the ground up to be an electric-only brand targeting younger buyers. It started sales in Europe in 2022 and finally arrived in the UK at the end of that year with its first car, the Funky Cat.
While the car had its plus points many reviewers failed to get past the name so it was soon renamed the GWM Ora 3, in the process stymying plans by UK distributor International Motors to call the UK company GWM Ora.
The now GWM UK has since launched two more of its parent company’s brands into Britain. The first car with a Haval badge is a small and affordable hybrid SUV called the Jolion Pro, and it has been followed by a vehicle from a GWM pick-up brand, the Poer 300.
When did GWM launch in the UK?
Ora was supposed to launch into UK showrooms in the Autumn of 2022 but the process has taken a little longer than planned. The company’s first model, called the Funky Cat, was launched in late 2022 and started arriving in early 2023.
Confining the ill-starred attempt to sell pick-ups in the UK in 2013 to history, GWM’s second launch into the UK was a drawn-out process, the first Funky Cats finally hitting the roads in early 2023.
The brand had plans to grow quickly, the five-star Euro NCAP safety rating for its UK launch model opening up the possibility of sales to a fleet market keen to fill rising demand for electric cars. But even with its new models GWM has not had the impact that Chinese brands such as BYD and Omoda, Jaecoo have achieved.
What models does Ora have and what else is coming?
The first Ora model to arrive in the UK was called the Good Cat in Europe, but marketing types felt the urge to update Good to ‘Funky’ for the UK market. As mentioned that decision proved short-lived…
Looking beyond the name what you get is an electric hatchback, costing from around £25k and around the size of a Volkswagen ID.3 or MG 4 – Car magazine described it as looking like the love child of a 2001 Nissan Micra and a Fiat 500.
Updates made alongside the renaming included extending the official range of the top model to just shy of 250 miles, and generally reviewers have summed up the Ora 03 as a competent first model for the brand’s UK debut. The five-star Euro NCAP safety rating earns universal praise – particularly as the crash testers named the car ‘best in its class’ that year. All of this helped its position in The Car Expert’s Expert Rating Index to climb to a New Car Expert Rating of A, with a score of 73% as more reviews came online.
In Spring 2025, GWM brought another of its badges to the UK in the form of Haval. The Jolion Pro is a small SUV, only available with a 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain. This is quite punchy but even combined with a cheap price tag for the entry-level model has not endeared the Jolion Pro to reviewers. Its been described as one of the least-inspiring offerings in a very competitive market – contributing to its basement-level New Car Expert Rating of E, with a score of 53%.
As these words are written The Car Expert has just had its first run in the latest GWM model – the Poer 300 is a large and very traditional double-cab pick-up with a 2.4-litre diesel engine and full off-road capability. With a price tag that undercuts virtually every rival, it could find a ready market with rural business users such as farmers.
Ora unveiled a second model at the 2023 unveiled at last week’s Fully Charged electric vehicle show in Farnborough. It looks vaguely like an oddly proportioned mashup between a first-generation Porsche Panamera and a Bentley Continental GT. The Ora 7 was supposed to launch in 2024 but as of April 2026 we are still waiting and it now seems more likely that next to arrive will be a crossover version of the Ora 3 – it’s called the Cat in China, and you can bet it won’t be called that here.
Remarkably in China GWM has unveiled a supercar, a currently unnamed vehicle said to be pitched as a rival to the Ferrari SF90. There’s no indication if this vehicle will make it to the UK.
Where can I try an GWM car?
GWM models are distributed in the UK by International Motors, a long-established importer which also manages Subaru and Isuzu here. The GWM sales network has been steadily growing and as of April 2026 there are 26 showrooms across the UK, along with some additional service centres and smaller ‘test drive’ locations.
Those that have signed up to offer GWM sales and service centres include major dealer groups such as Lookers, Peter Vardy and Chorley.
What’s particularly significant about this company?
GWM Ora has a very solid connection to today’s version of a British automotive icon. Revelling in its rapid growth, parent company Great Wall Motors has set up a joint company with BMW to develop the latest generation of the Mini.
Great Wall is assembling the new five-door electric crossover Mini variant called the Aceman at a huge new plant in Jiangsu, China. The Aceman and Ora 03 share the same underpinnings.
What makes GWM different to the rest?
GWM’s Ora has targeted younger buyers with its cars, reflected in the equipment levels, the technology and particularly in the styling. The curvy looks of the Ora 03, with just a slight indication of a Mini style up front, have been dubbed ‘cute’ by many reviewers.
When it launched the then Funky Cat’s technology, including wireless phone charging, adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree parking camera, and its five-star safety rating were not what was expected of affordable Chinese cars. The trouble is, just two years on the aggressive launch efforts of rivals have made such features the norm in Chinese cars.
Summary
It’s difficult to sum up GWM as its message has changed more than once over a very short period. For a time it appeared that the whole focus was on Ora as a more niche-focused brand than rivals such as BYD Auto, but the strategy doesn’t seem to have worked. GWM sold just over 500 cars in the Uk in 2025, around half of what it managed a year earlier.
Few reviewers can see the reasoning behind adding the Haval brand into what is now a market saturated with good quality rivals. The Poer pick-up could prove a success, however, its price and capability appealing at a time of economic pressure on small and especially rural business users.
It’s impossible to predict what comes next for GWM – watch this space…
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This feature was first published in October 2023 and updated in April 2026.
