By Paul Gover.
Everything about the Haval Jolion looks good.
The styling is smooth and modern, the size is right for a modern family, and the pricing is sharp from $28,490, with a seven-year warranty.
It’s also available as a petrol-electric hybrid, with the promise of fuel economy as low as 5 litres/100km at a starting price of $39,990.
There is a a heads-up driver display and a big infotainment screen, leather seats and all the latest driver-assistance systems including rear cross-traffic alert and pedestrian detection for its emergency safety braking.
So why are people not flocking to the Jolion Hybrid with the same enthusiasm as the Toyota fanatics who have created a 12-month-plus waiting list for the RAV4 hybrid?
It’s down to two things – the brand and the home country.
Haval is a challenger brand from China and is part of the GWM group that has wound back its branding from the days when it was known as Great Wall Motors.
So GWM is now the umbrella brand and Haval is one of the car companies, with a range of SUVs which are doing solid sales in Australia.
The Jolion is new and smooth and it’s the hybrid which should be creating the most interest in showrooms.
But it has yet to achieve the notoriety and following of the RAV4, which is one of the sharpest points of Toyota’s hybrid thrust into Australia, or even the Honda HR-V hybrid.
It has a significant price advantage over the Honda, which is priced from $47,000, and even the cheapest RAV4 hybrid is $40,550 with most buyers jumping up to the Cruiser model that starts just below $50,000.
Driving the Jolion hybrid is relaxed and comfortable, there is lots of standard luxury, and there is no questioning the safety package.
It can get along quite briskly, but it’s not any sort of sports model. There is fun in extracting the best fuel economy, and there are no complaints about the technology – apart from some over-eagerness in the safety package that wants to correct the driver’s steering inputs or braking – or a cabin with a big display screen and leather.
For people whose driving focus is on A-to-B travel, with no need to impress the neighbours, the Jolion makes plenty of sense.
But, driving it back-to-back with the Honda HR-V hybrid, as I did, and the Chinese contender is not as shiny.
It is not as composed on the road, there is more noise and fuss over any road surface, and it feels … well … cheap.
That’s not cheap and rubbish, but just cheaper than a brand with more history, more experience, and more understanding about the long-term requirements of people buying a quality family car.
So the Jolion is good, and GWM – like all the Chinese brands now pouring into Australia – is improving quickly.
For now, though, the Jolion hybrid is a car to buy with your head – after consulting your bank balance and the latest interest rate – and not your heart.
GWM Haval Jolion
Position: family-sized SUV hybrid
Price: from $39,990
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol hybrid
Power: 139kW/375Nm
Transmission: two-speed auto, front-wheel drive
Plus: value, hybrid package
Minus: challenger brand, unproven over the long haul
THE TICK: a value pick.
Score: 6.5/10
