Which Haval H6 C trim depreciates the fastest?

In many ways, the Haval H6 C was the perfect companion to the H2, which initially introduced this brand to the local market. Arriving just as the compact SUV-crossover craze gained momentum, the H6 C offered very attractive styling, contemporary drivetrain technology, and a very comprehensive equipment list at a comparative bargain price. 

This combination of attributes helped the H6 C to gain widespread market acceptance, and turned it into one of Haval’s most important models in South Africa. But does this popularity translate into strong resale values? To find out, we looked at the 2018-vintage H6 C examples listed here on AutoTrader, as this was the first full year of this model’s local availability. 

We also imposed a mileage limit of 15 000 km per year, giving a distance cap of 60 000 km. Comparing the different variants’ current market values to what they cost when new, we determined how much they are currently worth in the marketplace, expressed as a percentage of their original value. 

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T City Manual

New Price: R 329 900

Current Market Value: R 276 583

Percentage of value retained: 83.8%

Retaining 83.8% of its new-car value after 3 years, the entry-level Haval H6 C puts up a respectable showing in its medium-term depreciation, and is about on par with most cars in this class. It will likely remain close to this value for the next or so, too, because 2018 Haval H6 Cs will likely still have some of their OEM warranty as well.

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T City Automatic

Seeing as all City-trim H6 Cs on site at the time of writing were equipped with the manual gearbox, there is no data available for City-spec automatics. The only one with this configuration on site was a 2021-vintage car, so it’s probably safe to say that not many of these have been sold through the years.

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T Premium Manual

Once again, the data set is too small to draw accurate conclusions, although the single example on site’s value retention of 75.7% isn’t quite as good as the City variant with the same mechanical bits can boast.

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T Premium Automatic

New Price: R 379 900

Current Market Value: R 302 138

Percentage of value retained: 79.5%

In a reversal of the City trim’s case, Premium variants are more numerous with automatic transmissions. The sample size isn’t massive, but the close grouping of the listed cars’ values indicates that there shouldn’t be much of a deviation from the listed examples’ calculated 79.5% average value retention.

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T Luxury Manual

New Price: R 369 900

Current Market Value: R 309 947

Percentage of value retained: 83.8%

Top-level trim shows a higher value retention than the mid-range variants, which matches that of the entry-level H6 C at 83.8%. This is another good performance, indicating that the H6 C City’s apparent depreciation-resistance applies across the model range.

2018 Haval H6 C 2.0T Luxury Automatic

New Price: R 399 900

Current Market Value: R 322 424

Percentage of value retained: 80.6%

Mirroring the result we noticed with the mid-level Premium trim, the top-end H6 C Luxury retains less of its value with an automatic gearbox than it does with the manual. The Luxury variant still performs better than its mid-line sibling, though, and retains 80.6% of its initial value after 3 years.

Verdict

Two conclusions come to the fore when evaluating the H6 C range’s depreciation. Firstly, buyers appear to prefer either the low-level or high-trim versions of this Haval, with the mid-line Premium trim getting the least attention in the marketplace. The other is that the automatic versions all suffer from greater depreciation than the manual ones. This could perhaps be due to cautious buyers steering clear of the dual-clutch transmission’s potential long-term upkeep requirements, which will see this steeper future depreciation continuing for the self-shifting variants.