Great Wall Motors has been building vehicles since 1984. Its EV sub-brand ORA makes some of the most distinctive electric cars on the planet. Canada, meet the Good Cat.
The Short Version
Great Wall Motors (GWM) is one of China's largest and oldest private automakers, best known internationally for its Haval SUVs and tough-as-nails pickup trucks. ORA is GWM's dedicated EV sub-brand, launched in 2018, and its hero model — the ORA Good Cat (sold as the ORA 03 in some markets) — is a retro-styled electric hatchback that looks like absolutely nothing else on the road.
GWM has already proven it can sell vehicles outside China. It's a top-selling brand in Australia, has a growing presence in Thailand and the UK, and operates manufacturing plants on multiple continents. Now, with Canada opening up to Chinese-manufactured EVs, GWM and ORA are positioned to bring something genuinely different to our market.
GWM: Bigger Than You Think
Four Decades of Automaking
Great Wall Motors was founded in 1984 in Baoding, Hebei province. That makes it older than Hyundai's passenger car division and one of China's longest-running private automakers. The company started with pickup trucks — practical, rugged vehicles for the Chinese domestic market — and gradually expanded into SUVs with the Haval brand.
Key milestones:
- 1984: Founded as a pickup truck manufacturer in Baoding, China
- 1998: Launched the Haval SUV brand
- 2003: Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- 2011: Haval H6 launched — would become the best-selling SUV in China for years running
- 2018: ORA EV sub-brand launched
- 2020: Entered the Australian market (became a top-20 brand within two years)
- 2022: Launched in the UK and expanded across Southeast Asia
- 2024: Global sales exceeded 1.2 million vehicles
Here's a number that puts GWM's scale in perspective: the Haval H6 has been one of the best-selling SUVs globally at various points, moving millions of units. GWM isn't a startup figuring out how to mass-produce vehicles. They've been doing it at enormous scale for decades.
The Australia Success Story
If you want a preview of how GWM might perform in Canada, look at Australia. GWM entered the Australian market in 2020 and quickly established itself as a legitimate contender. The Haval H6, Jolion, and GWM Ute (pickup truck) all found real buyers in a market that's notoriously tough on newcomers.
Australia matters because it shares some characteristics with Canada: it's a right-hand-traffic market (well, left-hand-drive in Canada's case, but the point is GWM adapted to a Western market with strict safety standards), buyers love SUVs and trucks, conditions can be harsh, and consumers are skeptical of unknown brands. GWM cracked that market. The playbook exists.
They've also built solid dealer networks in the UK and Thailand, which tells me the company understands that selling cars internationally requires more than just shipping vehicles — you need parts, service, and local trust.
ORA: GWM's Electric Bet
Why a Separate Brand?
GWM launched ORA in 2018 as a standalone EV brand. The logic was straightforward: rather than trying to electrify the rugged, truck-oriented GWM image, create a fresh brand purpose-built for electric vehicles with its own identity. I think it was a smart move. The ORA brand has a playful, design-forward personality that wouldn't fit under the Haval badge.
The name "ORA" comes from various interpretations — GWM has referenced it as meaning "open, reliable, alternative" — but honestly, the branding matters less than the product. And the product is interesting.
The ORA Good Cat (ORA 03)
This is the model that puts ORA on the map. The ORA Good Cat — marketed as the ORA 03 in Europe and some other markets — is a compact electric hatchback with retro-inspired styling that borrows cues from classic Porsches and vintage Volkswagen Beetles. It's got round headlights, smooth curves, and a silhouette that genuinely turns heads.
I'll be direct: in a market where most EVs look like they were designed by the same algorithm, the Good Cat stands out. It's polarizing — some people love the retro look, others find it too cute — but it has real visual identity. You'll never mistake it for anything else in a parking lot.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Compact electric hatchback |
| Battery | ~63 kWh (long range) |
| Range | ~400 km (WLTP) |
| Motor | 126 kW (171 hp), front-wheel drive |
| DC fast charging | Up to 80 kW |
| 0-100 km/h | ~8.5 seconds |
| Cargo space | ~228 litres (rear seats up) |
| Estimated Canadian price | $35,000-$40,000 CAD |
The specs tell a straightforward story: this is a comfortable urban and suburban EV with enough range for daily driving and the occasional road trip. It's not a performance car — 126 kW and 8.5 seconds to 100 km/h won't pin you to the seat — but it's perfectly adequate for the way most people actually drive.
In European and Australian reviews, the Good Cat has earned praise for its ride comfort, quiet cabin, and well-laid-out interior with a large central touchscreen. The criticisms tend to focus on the software (infotainment can be slow) and the cargo space (228 litres with rear seats up is tight for a family hauler). If you need to carry more than groceries and a couple of bags, you'll be folding those rear seats down regularly.
What About Charging Speed?
I want to flag this honestly: DC fast charging tops out at around 80 kW. That's noticeably slower than competitors like the BYD Dolphin or Hyundai Kona Electric, which can charge at 100+ kW. On a road trip, that difference translates to longer charging stops. For daily home charging, it won't matter at all — you'll plug in overnight and wake up to a full battery. But if you're planning frequent long-distance drives, the slower DC charging is worth considering.
GWM's Broader Lineup: Beyond ORA
ORA is the EV-focused brand, but GWM could potentially bring other electrified models to Canada:
Haval H6 PHEV/HEV
The Haval H6 is GWM's bread-and-butter SUV — a compact crossover that competes with the Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Tucson. Plug-in hybrid and hybrid versions exist in other markets. A PHEV Haval H6 could appeal to Canadian buyers who want electrification but aren't ready to go fully electric, especially those in rural areas or colder provinces where charging infrastructure is still developing.
GWM Tank / WEY
GWM also operates the Tank and WEY sub-brands, covering larger SUVs and more premium positioning. Whether these come to Canada early on is uncertain, but GWM's breadth of lineup gives it options that pure EV startups simply don't have.
Canadian Market Considerations
Pricing and the Tariff Question
Canada's 6.1% tariff on Chinese-manufactured EVs will apply to ORA and GWM vehicles. Based on global pricing — the ORA 03 sells for roughly the equivalent of $30,000-$35,000 CAD in Europe before local taxes — I'd estimate Canadian pricing for the Good Cat in the range of $35,000-$40,000 CAD after tariff and import costs.
That puts it in the same neighbourhood as the base Hyundai Kona Electric or Chevrolet Equinox EV. The Good Cat won't be the cheapest EV on the lot, but it brings distinctive design and solid specs at a competitive price.
Provincial Incentive Eligibility
If the ORA Good Cat qualifies for provincial EV incentives, the math gets more interesting:
- Quebec (Roulez Vert): Up to $7,000 off → effective price as low as $28,000 CAD
- British Columbia (Go Electric): Up to $4,000 off → effective price around $31,000 CAD
At those price points, the Good Cat would be one of the most affordable EVs available in Canada with a genuine 400 km range claim. Federal iZEV eligibility will depend on final MSRP and assembly-origin rules — still being sorted out for Chinese-manufactured vehicles as of early 2026.
Winter Performance
Let's talk about what matters most to Canadian buyers: winter. The ORA Good Cat is front-wheel drive only. No AWD option currently exists. In a country where a significant number of buyers consider AWD a must-have, that's a real limitation.
FWD with good winter tires is perfectly fine for urban and suburban driving — I've driven FWD cars through plenty of Canadian winters without issue. But if you live somewhere with steep hills, unplowed rural roads, or regularly drive in heavy snow, the lack of AWD narrows the Good Cat's appeal compared to competitors that offer it.
Cold weather will also reduce the real-world range. That ~400 km WLTP rating could realistically drop to 280-320 km in a Canadian winter, depending on temperature and driving conditions. This is true of every EV, but it's worth factoring into your expectations.
We don't have Canadian-specific winter test data for the ORA Good Cat yet. GWM's vehicles have performed reasonably in Australian heat extremes and European winters, but a proper -30C Prairie winter is a different challenge entirely. This is something we'll be tracking closely once vehicles arrive.
Dealership and Service Network
This is the biggest question mark — and I want to be upfront about it. GWM does not have a Canadian dealer network today. Building one takes time, investment, and local partnerships.
GWM's Australian experience offers some encouragement. The company established a functional dealer and service network across Australia within a couple of years of market entry. But Canada's geography is different — we're an enormous country with population concentrated in a few urban corridors and vast distances between them.
Early Canadian buyers will likely be limited to major urban centres (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary) for dealer access and service. If you live in a smaller city or rural area, buying an ORA in year one means accepting some uncertainty around convenient service access.
Parts availability is another concern in the early months. GWM will need to establish a Canadian parts distribution infrastructure, and until that's mature, repair times for anything beyond routine maintenance could be longer than you're used to.
Honest Assessment: Strengths and Risks
Strengths
- Distinctive design: The ORA Good Cat has a genuine visual identity in a sea of similar-looking EVs. If you care about how your car looks — and you should — this one stands out
- GWM's scale and experience: This is a company that makes over a million vehicles a year and has been doing it for four decades. Manufacturing quality and consistency are real strengths
- Proven in Western markets: Australia, UK, and Europe provide real-world evidence that GWM can succeed outside China
- Competitive pricing: $35,000-$40,000 CAD for a ~400 km range EV with this much character is a solid value proposition
- Broader lineup potential: GWM's range of SUVs and trucks means more models could follow if the initial launch goes well
Risks
- Brand recognition is near zero: Almost no Canadian has heard of GWM or ORA. Building awareness from scratch is expensive and slow
- Limited EV model range: Right now, ORA's lineup is thin. The Good Cat is essentially the only model — if it doesn't resonate with Canadian buyers, there's no backup
- No AWD option: For a significant portion of Canadian buyers, FWD-only is a dealbreaker
- Slower DC fast charging: 80 kW is behind the competition and will be a frustration on road trips
- Service network doesn't exist yet: Early adopters will be taking a leap of faith on service and parts availability
- Resale value is unknown: No one knows what an ORA Good Cat will be worth in three or five years in Canada. That's a real financial risk
Who Is This For?
If I'm being honest, the ORA Good Cat isn't for everyone. It's for urban and suburban drivers who want an EV with real personality, who value design and character over raw specs, and who are comfortable being early adopters of a new brand in Canada. If you're the kind of person who bought a Kia Soul when nobody knew what it was because you liked that it looked different — the Good Cat might be your kind of car.
If you need AWD, maximum cargo space, or the security of an established service network on day one, I'd steer you toward more proven options first.
The Bottom Line
GWM is a legitimate automaker with forty years of history and genuine global success. ORA's Good Cat is a legitimately distinctive vehicle in a market that desperately needs more visual diversity. The combination of retro design, reasonable range, and competitive pricing makes the Good Cat worth watching.
But "worth watching" and "worth buying on day one" are different things. The lack of a Canadian dealer network, the FWD-only drivetrain, the slower charging speeds, and the zero brand recognition are all real factors. GWM has the resources and track record to address most of these over time — they've done it in Australia, the UK, and elsewhere. The question is whether Canadian buyers will give them that time.
I think they will, eventually. The ORA Good Cat is the kind of car that sells itself in a showroom — it has the look, the feel, and the price to win people over. GWM just needs to build the showrooms first.