The base from the Mini, the face somehow from the Beetle – the GWM Ora 03 plays the sympathy card. He should also be successful in Austria from summer 2024, without the previous cat associations: his Chinese parents have already dropped the name “Funky Cat”. Now they just have to come to an agreement with an importer.
GWM, advertised as Great Wall Motors, wants to appear as a brand in the future, no longer just as a gray eminence in the background. That’s why Ora is no longer just a model name, not a brand name. Nevertheless, “03” is added as an additional model name, because there are also other Ora series. It remains to be seen to what extent GWM will emerge as a brand. In any case, the Chinese company is making quite a fuss about its nomenclature. No matter what it’s called: the Ora 03 is a fresh, small electric car. But again, it’s not that small: it’s at least 4.24 meters long, just under VW ID.3 dimensions. The drive is a little weaker. Nevertheless, it doesn’t hide behind the Wolfsburg in terms of price, but more on that later. The space is very good for the size, you sit well in the two-tone, trendy, homely interior, even in the back seat. Albeit on relatively short seats that look elegant with checkered quilted faux leather. Only the trunk is a bit small, 228 liters fit behind the high loading sill, 858 if you fold it down. Reasonable engine, but weak charging power When it comes to engine power, the Ora 03 holds back: the electric motor transfers 126 kW/171 hp to the front wheels a maximum torque of 250 Nm. No matter whether it is the basic or the top model with the sporty name GT. The difference lies in the features and the capacity of the battery: 48 kWh and a WLTP range of 320 km versus 63 kWh and 400 km. The size and weight of the batteries are almost the same, but the basic model has to make do with a lithium iron phosphate battery, the GT has nickel-cobalt-manganese. Both are fast enough on the road, the standard sprint value is a good eight seconds. A top speed of 160 km/h can be described as normal. The system takes significantly more time to charge. With a maximum charging power of 64 or 67 kW, it feels like it takes forever until the battery is charged to 80 percent. For the small one it takes 42.4 minutes – measured from 15 percent – and for the large one it takes 48 minutes. For comparison: VW specifies a charging time of 30 minutes for the 77 kWh battery of the ID.3 to get from five (!) percent to 80%. The Ora 03 treats itself to 11 kW of alternating current as standard Small Ora is not as powerfully motorized as the competition, so it doesn’t really matter. The 1580 kg DIN weight of the top model gets off the ground well, at least better than everything we used to drive as bread-and-butter cars (okay, bread-and-butter is actually quite presumptuous given the purchase price). The steering is accurate, but callous. The chassis is tight, but you’re unlikely to adopt it in the Mini. The navigation system is playful, which fits here much better than in its brand brother Wey 03. But here too, the assistance systems are sometimes a bit intrusive. Driving point The Ora 03 is built in Baoding, together with BMW’s new Mini. We will probably only find out the final prices and equipment lists once it is clear who is importing the GWM models into Austria and selling them in this country. This should start in the summer at the latest. In Germany the price is between 39,000 and 49,500 euros. Quite a lot for a Chinese compact car without outstanding technical features.
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