Sporty Haval Jolion S revealed with more grunt Down Under

Ever popular Chinese automaker, Haval, has taken the wraps off of a sporty version of the Jolion in Australia that has reportedly been confirmed for South Africa.

What has changed?

Simply called the Jolion S, the upmarket division of Great Wall Motors (GWM), whose badging remains on all Haval models in Down Under, receives gloss black mirror caps, roof rails, side accents and 18-inch alloy wheels, as well as black detailing on the bumpers.

Inside, Haval has made incremental changes such as replacing the touch-sensitive controls with “hard buttons” reportedly as a result of customer feedback.

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Being based on the flagship Jolion Ultra, which serves as Australia’s version of the top-spec Super Luxury sold in South Africa, specification is unchanged.

Underneath though, Haval has fitted the Jolion S with a new multi-link rear suspension in place of the standard model’s torsion beam, while also sharpening the change action of the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The need for the upgraded dynamics comes as a result of the Haval having extracted more power from the 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine.

Now delivering 130 kW, 25 kW more than the South Africa’s Jolion, the claimed torque figure has also been upped from 210 Nm to 270 Nm. No performance figures were released.

In total, the Jolion S’ colour palette spans six hues; Hamilton White, Smoke Grey, Golden Black, Azure Blue, Mars Red and a new model bespoke option called Tropical Green no other Jolion model can be specified in.

Price and when

Down Under, the S slots-in between the Ultra and the Ultra Hybrid with a price tag of $36 990 (R425 268) that undercuts the latter by $4 000 (R45 987).

Based on information from colleagues at iol.co.za and cars.co.za, the Jolion S has been approved for South Africa, with the latter reporting an arrival in the first quarter of next year.

Despite pricing being unknown at present, the expected sticker price could come in around the R455 000 to R465 000 mark based on the Super Luxury’s R466 950 sticker and the R479 950 asking price of the bigger H6 2.0T Premium.

More information on the Jolion range can be viewed here.