PODCAST: Haval Jolion Pro and City strategy GWM masterstroke

Introduced locally three years ago, the Haval Jolion quickly became GWM’s best-selling car. And the Chinese carmaker’s decision to split the range into City and Pro models is set to further boost its sales.

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In this week’s edition of The Citizen Motoring’s Pitstop podcast, we discuss GWM’s Jolion strategy.

The Haval Jolion as it has been known up until now has been rebranded to the Haval Jolion City. This strategy is common in the motoring industry. Volkswagen for instance rebrands outgoing Polo models to the Polo Vivo as a more affordable option alongside the Polo.

In GWM’s case, the Pro has been introduced at the top of the model structure with a starting price of R391 150. The Pro range consists of three 1.5-litre turbo variants, and S and hybrid models. The latter two is not offered on the Haval Jolion City.

The Haval Jolion City is offered in three models, with one being a special edition with a limited run of 120. The City starts at a price of R345 950, which is over R40k less than the most affordable Pro derivative.

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Familiar mill for Haval Jolion Pro and City

Both the Pro and City are powered by the 1.5-litre blown mill that serves on the outgoing Haval Jolion. It produces 105 of power and 210Nm which is sent to front wheels via either six-speed manual transmission or seven-speed DCT. Similar to the outgoing S model, the engine in the Pro S has been uptuned to produce 130kW/270Nm.

The top end of the Pro range overlaps slightly with the H6 range, which starts at R492 050. The medium-sized SUV range goes up to R679 950.

The Haval Jolion Pro and City are just two models in a huge 2024 product offensive by GWM. At the end of last year they rolled out the all-electric Ora, while the Tank 300 was introduced earlier this year. Also lined up is the Tank 500 and the P500 bakkie.