Haval

Haval’s vehicles are manufactured by its parent company, the Great Wall Motors Group, otherwise known as GWM, with the company created to lauch compact and midsize crossovers as a standalone brand. 

Haval’s vehicles like the H6, H6GT and the Jolion are produced at one of GWM’s production lines in Baoding, China, as well as in Tula, Russia and in Rayong in Thailand. Haval also has production lines established for the H6 in Tianjin, China, as well as the Bulgarian city of Bahovitsa.

Like many Chinese automotive companies, Haval has come a long way in a remarkably short span of time when it comes to the research and development of its products and the quality of its manufacturing lines. 

In today’s market, Haval’s vehicles are very much worth paying attention to. This is because Haval offers a very attractive value for money proposition compared to its main rivals, often undercutting its comparable compact and midsize SUV competitors on price, while taking a generous approach to the features on offer and its long warranty programs.

While Haval and its parent company GWM have made significant advancements in their product research and development and quality control measures, it’s worth noting that as a relatively young company, it’s difficult to guage the reliability of Haval’s vehicles in a short span of time. 

So far, Haval has received relatively positive feedback for the reliability of its vehicles here in Australia, scoring on average 3.5 out of 5, or around 60 per cent scores for reliability from owners of its vehicles. 

Some of the most problem reliability issues with Haval’s vehicles reported from customers include a lack of consistency in the build quality, transmission problems, electrical issues and connectivity problems stemming from the infotainment system.

Haval says that the origin of its English-spoken name is the result of a rough translation from its original Chinese name, which translates roughly to something in between ‘Harfu’ and ‘Hover,’ with the company changing the name before its global launch back in 2013. 

For that launch, the company changed those rough translations to ‘Haval,’ which is said to incorporate both English words of ‘have’ and ‘value,’ or ‘have all.’

To keep its vehicles in the best working order, Haval does indeed offer a service or maintanence plan, which allows new owners to plan and budget for regular and preventative maintenance on their vehicle over a number of years. 

Haval says that maintenance plans are offered with each of its vehicles, and while they vary between models, these allow buyers to lock in the price of future servicing, which is effectively a capped-price servicing program, for the duration of the vehicle’s warranty.

One of Haval’s old models, the H1 compact SUV did indeed use a Toyota engine. The H1 was powered by a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine produced by Toyota, otherwise known as the 1NZ-FE, which featured an aluminium block, for valves per cylinder and fuel injection. 

Since the H1, Haval has moved away from using Toyota-sourced engines, instead turning to its parent-company, GWM, for a range of naturally-aspirated and turbocharged four-cylinder engines, as well as some new hybrid tech for the Haval lineup.

Haval uses a mix of turbocharged four-cylinder engines for its current vehicle lineup, but has also added fuel-efficient hybrid engines into its range in recent years. 

Both the Haval H6 and its coupe-styled H6GT siblings are powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder producing 150kW of power and 320Nm of torque, while the H6 Hybrid is powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol paired with an electric motor producing a combined 179kW of power and 530Nm of torque. 

Haval’s parent-company, GWM, has also made significant moves into the world of battery-electric vehicles, with a series of electric motors and high-capacity lithium-ion battery packs now making their way into the next-generation of its lineup.