GWM and Haval - A Chinese Journey Part 1

By Lawrence Minnie

GWM and Haval are one of the largest auto manufacturers in China and they set out to prove that they are the best by inviting a group of global journalists on a cross country tour with the brand. Soaking in the culture and the product was just the beginning.

Global Brand

I think it’s safe to safe to say that most consumers in South Africa don’t give much thought to the manufacturers of their goods.

We don’t care much that the sneakers, jackets and other clothing items from some of the most well-known brands come from the far east.

We don’t care that almost all our electronics come from the east and we aren’t bothered by that fact that most of our engineered products come from there either.

But mention that the car you are looking at buying comes from China and all of a sudden you get sceptical sideways glances and a tut-tut of warnings about quality issues.

I want to allay your fears on this front and assure you that a little bit of research and a test drive or two might just change your perception.

We recently spent a week with Great Wall Motors Haval group, touring their production facilities, speaking with their staff and seeing just how large their footprint in China is and it is without a doubt, simply astounding.

There is a long-term plan for the South African market and Haval isn’t going anywhere, in fact, they are doubling down and we became the test subjects for a new set of vehicles that will be making their way to our shores in the near future.

Day 1

The first day of our visit saw us at GWM City. I say city because this is a massive manufacturing centre, testing facility and R&D centre that encompasses employee living neighbourhoods, green areas, roads and other infrastructure. It is a self-contained biome of auto manufacture.

We spent our first day testing new models on their test track circuit and were asked to grade and evaluate each vehicle. The new H6, F7 and F7x, as well as WEY VV7, were made available for rigorous testing and a comprehensive survey was filled out for each model after completing the tests.

Testing involved high speed driving on the banked oval, swerve tests, braking, hill ascents and descents, and a series of road courses designed to rattle your fillings loose.

Haval is on a continuous journey to provide exactly what the buying public wants and take their research very seriously.

We then went onto a small tour of a single line that builds the popular H2.

The factory is a completely self-contained centre that begins with stamping mills that punch out each part of the vehicle body, onto a sea of welding robots, automated overhead lines, automated delivery robots and a small army of workers, and finalised through to a completed vehicle rolling off the line.

It is fascinating to watch a vehicle built at that speed with zero quality issues.

The volume of vehicles that are assembled boggles the mind and its heartbreaking to say but it dwarfs most of our local manufacturing plants in South Africa. The sheer scale of the facilities in Baoding is something to behold and the accompanying pictures just don’t do it justice.

To be continued…..