Who will buy an Ora Funky Cat?
Discussion
Familymad said:
GWM are doing some simple and effective PCP, PCH and BCH on their website. The PCP sets a 2 yr GFV of £17400. It’s good that’s guaranteed as you can pick up a ‘23 plate for £19995 already!
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202401045...
https://gwmora.co.uk/year-of-the-dragon/
Their PCH offer has a £2,200 initial payment, then £185 a month. Which is pretty decent. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202401045...
https://gwmora.co.uk/year-of-the-dragon/
Is there any evidence of this mythical lease at £190 initial payment plus 47 months £190 out there? It's been claimed on this thread but no link given. Honestly I'd probably place an order today if I saw that.
Familymad said:
You might well be correct. The others, including Tesla, just can't compete at these price points. Lest we forget these are the prices that the average buyer in the UK can afford, not £400pcm for a Model Y. A Focus, Astra and the like used to be a PCP of circa £200 a month. If China offer such rates they will clean up.
Agree, however, we need to take into account that this is the EV market not the conventional ICE market and it has different consumer dynamics in that an enormous number of of the lower end buyers of new cars are excluded. The EV market starts, in essence, at the level of consumer who has a driveway, as the ability to add home charging and has the lifestyle where an EV works, most probably even has other cars. That consumer demographic wasn't ever really part of the market buying Astras and Focii.
I do suspect that these consumers are going to be less repelled by new cheaper brands than the incumbent ones in many cases?
Familymad said:
You might well be correct. The others, including Tesla, just can't compete at these price points. Lest we forget these are the prices that the average buyer in the UK can afford, not £400pcm for a Model Y. A Focus, Astra and the like used to be a PCP of circa £200 a month. If China offer such rates they will clean up.
There's a cheaper Tesla coming, isn't there? And a small VW Group car which I don't suppose will be super-cheap, but if it's any good then other competitiors will have to be cheaper.Sheepshanks said:
There's a cheaper Tesla coming, isn't there? And a small VW Group car which I don't suppose will be super-cheap, but if it's any good then other competitiors will have to be cheaper.
Lots of smaller EVs in the pipeline but the Chinese stuff will be able to undercut all day long if required to do so. I do suspect that as the ZEV Mandate ratchets up towards 2030 we might well see a notable change in new car demographics as the original brands that occupy the cheaper space lose market share to incomers.
DonkeyApple said:
I do suspect that as the ZEV Mandate ratchets up towards 2030 we might well see a notable change in new car demographics as the original brands that occupy the cheaper space lose market share to incomers.
I seem to have seen a few articles in the last couple of weeks - I think prompted by the state of the German economy - suggesting the EU might push the 2035 deadline back.I'm keen to try an EV in the family "fleet" but the use-case we have needs quite a lot of miles (60 mile daily commute, mainly motorway) so it needs something reasonable so even PCH is quite dear for high mileage. OTOH I don't want to buy and then get completely wiped out on it.
Sheepshanks said:
I seem to have seen a few articles in the last couple of weeks - I think prompted by the state of the German economy - suggesting the EU might push the 2035 deadline back.
I'm keen to try an EV in the family "fleet" but the use-case we have needs quite a lot of miles (60 mile daily commute, mainly motorway) so it needs something reasonable so even PCH is quite dear for high mileage. OTOH I don't want to buy and then get completely wiped out on it.
I think we will hear more and more such stories and seeded articles. Both Germany and France have retained vast 20th century legacy manufacturing operations and maintained huge swathes in the Eastern Block of the EU which they stand little chance of being able to transition to net zero without the kind of global economic growth and the peak Boomer workforce that the U.K. had to support our closure of almost all this type of industry over 30 years ago. I'm keen to try an EV in the family "fleet" but the use-case we have needs quite a lot of miles (60 mile daily commute, mainly motorway) so it needs something reasonable so even PCH is quite dear for high mileage. OTOH I don't want to buy and then get completely wiped out on it.
The French and German auto manufacturers have used many political and legislative angles to lock out competitors from their core markets but the damn has burst when it comes to Chinese EV goods. We are likely to see a huge increase in German cheap car manufacturing have to shift to Asia where at least they already have the businesses in place. But also their other heavy industries which locate based on energy efficiency risk being relocated to new world or developing economies which have a competitive advantage in terms of excess renewable generation potential. Just look at the cost to the U.K. tax payer of maintaining just one dirty industry, Port Talbot, in the U.K. and the shifting of it away from fossil fuel energy towards renewable. The EU has hundreds, if not thousands of these entities which need to switch but few are in locations where the new energy source can exist in abundance which risks many becoming uncompetitive without legislating more and more against imports.
And the real problem with legislating against cheaper imports is that the easiest way to discourage consumers from wanting the cost savings on their goods is to ramp up jingoistic and nationalist fervers.
Ergo, alongside logical 2035 pushback we are also seeing rising anti China rhetoric etc.
In the U.K. it is a very different story. We have already paid the heavy price of 20th century deindustrialisation. We are also a small island easy to slowly switch to EV and we have a big advantage re renewable energy transition. Add to that we import nearly all our cars, even if in parts that get assembled in labour subsidised locations. Ergo, there is a very robust argument that this is not our f
king problem and we will not be paying for the choices of others to not deindustrialise while simultaneously putting in motion laws that require deindustrialisation. The U.K. is sitting really pretty in this regard and we can be wholly agnostic as to where we buy our cars from, just like we are fridges, TVs and other consumables run on credit.
What we do want to be doing is ensuring the least number of GBP get sent overseas full stop so we want to open the car market wide to all and let them butcher each other for our business. We categorically do not want to be squandering such a large opportunity by locking out competition and forcing consumers to pay much more than they need to for private transport.
Our 2035 deadline isn't set in legal stone either so if it becomes apparent closer to the date that an important section of society risks being locked out of mobility then all we need to do is permit the ongoing sale of the cheapest and most frugal ICE cars to lower income households.
Familymad said:
You might well be correct. The others, including Tesla, just can't compete at these price points. Lest we forget these are the prices that the average buyer in the UK can afford, not £400pcm for a Model Y. A Focus, Astra and the like used to be a PCP of circa £200 a month. If China offer such rates they will clean up.
The list price of an OFC is £32k. There are plenty of other options around that price.... So the difference (if there is one) in monthlies is purely financing.That should not be an insurmountable hurdle for old school manufacturers IMO. Kia just lost out on a sale to me because Volvo were offering 0%... It can be done if the willy's there.
DonkeyApple said:
Murph7355 said:
Kia just lost out on a sale to me because Volvo were offering 0%... It can be done if the willy's there.
Interesting style of negotiation. Was the threat to take it out or not put it away until terms were met? 
(Does anyone do a phone bigger than an S23 Ultra?).
G-wiz said:
bqf said:
I read this morning that the Ora Funky Cat, from Great Wall Motors, goes on sale today.
It's £32,000, has a 193 mile range, and appears to have three Lookers outlets in the West Midlands as it's dealer network.
It comes in 4 primary school crayon colours, and looks like a very odd mash-up of a K12 Micra and a Leaf.
I'm genuinely thinking, and this is rare I think, for a car launch, that there is no-one for whom this car would make any sense whatsoever.
Would anyone buy it?
All things considered.............no.It's £32,000, has a 193 mile range, and appears to have three Lookers outlets in the West Midlands as it's dealer network.
It comes in 4 primary school crayon colours, and looks like a very odd mash-up of a K12 Micra and a Leaf.
I'm genuinely thinking, and this is rare I think, for a car launch, that there is no-one for whom this car would make any sense whatsoever.
Would anyone buy it?
DSLiverpool said:
I tried getting insurance, not easy
I saw someone saying they were getting a reasonable quote for an Ora Funky Cat but mental for a GWM Ora 03 (because presumably the new name is brand new and doesn’t really exist with the underwriters yet) - is that the issue you’re seeing?Toaster Pilot said:
DSLiverpool said:
I tried getting insurance, not easy
I saw someone saying they were getting a reasonable quote for an Ora Funky Cat but mental for a GWM Ora 03 (because presumably the new name is brand new and doesn’t really exist with the underwriters yet) - is that the issue you’re seeing?The insurance issue is an interesting quirk for the manufacturers as deciding to deliberately misprice risk on the debt is one thing but I can't imagine many want to be trying to subsidise insurance costs?
It's quite a significant backlash to decades of not policing such thefts and falling back almost entirely on the instance industry to simply pay out and add the cost to everyone's policy then meeting such a huge increase in accident repair costs and parts.
It's the kind of storm large enough to trigger a return to generic 7" lamps and non colour external touch points.
DonkeyApple said:
Toaster Pilot said:
DSLiverpool said:
I tried getting insurance, not easy
I saw someone saying they were getting a reasonable quote for an Ora Funky Cat but mental for a GWM Ora 03 (because presumably the new name is brand new and doesn’t really exist with the underwriters yet) - is that the issue you’re seeing?The insurance issue is an interesting quirk for the manufacturers as deciding to deliberately misprice risk on the debt is one thing but I can't imagine many want to be trying to subsidise insurance costs?
It's quite a significant backlash to decades of not policing such thefts and falling back almost entirely on the instance industry to simply pay out and add the cost to everyone's policy then meeting such a huge increase in accident repair costs and parts.
It's the kind of storm large enough to trigger a return to generic 7" lamps and non colour external touch points.
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