2008: The year of the Great Wall hatchback.
2008 looks set to be a stellar year for the fellas from Bao Ding, China. Great Wall showed off their 2008 line up at the Shanghai show, and on China Car Times – the post was inundated with comments from our Italian friends about the Great Wall Pery being a copy of their famous Fiat Panda – maybe so, but for 50,000rmb, we’re loving it!
The Pery (above – click for a bigger version) is expected to go on the market next month (February 2008) priced at 40,390rmb to 50,390rmb.
Great Wall Florid:
The Florid is another small hatchback from Great Wall, whats under the hood we dont know, perhaps an engine in the 1.3 to 1.6 region, its stocking 1.5 gasoline engine, and has an optional 1.2 diesel engine, perhaps a first for any small Chinese car. The Florid is set to become the ‘sporty’ one of the Great Wall line up – we’re not so sure about that name then. When China Car Times finds out more about this model, we’ll be sure to let you know first. Want one? You’ll be waiting until May, but its yours for 60 to 80,000rmb.
The Great Wall Coolbear
This is perhaps China Car Times most liked car from Great Wall! What kinda crazy people call a car the ‘Cool Bear’ Great Wall – thats who. The Cool Bear maybe…. urm… inspired, design wise, but its a cooooool car. The Cool Bear is going to be marketed as an urban MPV, its going to pack a 1.5 motor or a 1.2 motor, depending on what you want – oh, and both engines are of the VVT sort. Want one? Well expect to pay 70, to 100,000rmb for one, and you’ll have to wait until September 08 to get one.
China Car Times cant wait for the 4×4 Peri though:
We have no idea if its going to come down the production line, or if it was just a concept. It would be cool if Great Wall made the Peri 4×4 into an all wheel drive motor for some tough Chinese city driving. We’d have one, no, we’d take this for daytime driving, and the Cool Bear for night time pimping, erm, cruising.
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Pure rip offs.
Buy a Fiat Panda, it looks better, it’s better built, will probably be safer in a crash and it’s the original and not some cheap immitation!!
the Great Wall brand is the EXACT proof of what most chinese automakers do:
XEROX COPY cars from other companies…
besides the Fiat Panda, can ANYONE deny the other two models being copies of Toyota Yaris and 2008 Scion xB (which is also Toyota and also last generation)??
Toyota Yaris : http://photots.i0100.com/3465_small.jpg
Scion xB : http://image.automotive.com/f/auto-shows/2008-scion-xb-boxes-out-at-chicago-auto-show/6223103+w630+cr1+re0+ar1/2008-scion-xb-front-right-stagejpg.jpg
anyone trying to deny this resemblance is just purely defending a world without any intelectual property, with no copyright laws… toyota and fiat have spent millions developing these cars. For whoever defends GW, don’t you think it’s at least unfair with these brands that a chinese automaker simply copy their product??
how can Great Wall claim now it has designed the Peri itself?? These new cars show that the Great Wall brand has no design identity, which only proves it copied the Fiat Panda : it doesn’t only copy cars from Fiat, but also from other brands (toyota, in this case)…
this sickens me…
I’ve posted this paragraph in the GW Peri post, and I’m going to paste it here since it fits just right in…
>>they’ve copied this car just to save money on a new product development… so long for the auto industry competition… so long for innovations at each new vehicle…
imagine if this happened in Europe or in America or any other place besides China… if brands were allowed to freely copy other brands… no innovations would come up at each new generation… corsas, fiestas and polos would all be the same… as camrys, accords, fusions and malibus… auto industry would never have developed…
Chinese government is just STUPID for letting this happen…
That is a wide brush you are painting with.
Not all Chinese car co’s are cloning cars, its just a handful of naughty children, that will soon feel market pressure and give up with their pikey ways.
I really hope it does…
but it doesn’t matter how many automakers “inspire” their produts on overseas brands (which, IMO, are quite a lot)…
not even ONE company should be allowed to do this procedure…
it only takes ONE brand to f.uck up with competition.
I think you’re right to say it’s a wide brush that’s being used here, however it’s still a major problem that is affecting companies such as Fiat, Mercedes, Smart, BMW and Toyota to name 5. So the comments are valid but restraint should be shown as it’s not every manufacturer. However, if the chinese government don’t clamp down on this then everyone will assume it’s all chinese makers and perhaps boycott all Chinese cars, and that’s not a good thing for the Chinese economy!!
LOL I guess Great Wall is reading all of these.
Sorry, but I think GW don’t know anything about design: all these cars are clones of a beautiful occidental cars…
actually I don’t think any of these cars look good…
actually I think they suck…
there are so many nice small compact cars in Europe, and even in Japan…
but they are major market hits, that’s probably the reason why GW has copied them.
Sorry for the OT. Could you please tell me the name of a car (this size/price in western countries) that looks better (or at least do not suck…) and sells better than Yaris? only to understand your taste…
in the US, I’ve never seen an Yaris in my life… I can only assume it doesn’t sell at all, unless I’m getting blind or people who buy it actually hide it (which is advised….)
anyway, some cars that look better, sell better and ARE better than the yaris in the US, for the same price range (MSRP $11k-14k USD):
Ford Focus –>(12k-14k)
Nissan Versa (Tiida) –>(13k-15k)
or even:
Chevrolet Cobalt –> (14k-18k)
Honda Civic –> (14k-18k)
just to name a few…
ok… subcompact cars have never sold well in America, and this is definetely not the playground for the Yaris…
let’s cross the Atlantic and see what we can get:
for ($8k-14k, in the UK)
Opel Corsa
VW Polo
Peugeot 207
Fiat Punto
Ford Fiesta
just to name a few.
all these subcompacts are better designed and built, IMO. They have personality, european flair.
Not this terrible bland japanese/asian design. Asian design in general has aways been bland and tasteless if compared to other schools. Toyota, IMO, has aways been one of the most extreme in this point.
This all-rounded design in the Yaris is awful. This centered instrument panel looks horrible AND is terribly located. In my opinion, centered panels are the worst.. worse than that only if you place it somewhere you can’t see…
automakers do that because cuts project costs, since it can be simply mirrored for LHD and RHD dashes.
All this has been my opinion. You can have (I hope you do..) your own if you want. I think the Yaris sucks, looks awful and is a chick’s car.
My choice in the USA would be either a Civic (or even a Fit) or a Cobalt.. these cars cover the top range of the yaris price.
In Europe, would be either the Corsa or the Polo.
You buy whatever you want with your money. I’m just sorry for the yaris buyers…
thanks, and sorry for the late answer
i don’t agree with your taste (imho it’s better than some of your choices: polo is too mild, 207 too sharp and big-mouthed, and fiesta too old) but that’s ok.
I agree that the centered cluster is a cheap solution for a not-so-cheap car…
now let’s go back on topic and look at the fake scion (or daihatsu) with a cool name
Toyota clone or not (alright, it is), Coolbear is the best name for a car EVER. EVER. If I had money to burn I’d buy one just for the name.
What goes around comes around, these people are going to get what they deserve for IP theft.
Thieves! Plain and simple. So is theft legal in China? I think not. This is blatant theft if I ever seen it. The difference may only be minor, but it is not enough to not call it a copy. Then again Chinese cars are not normal outside of China are they?
Chinese cars are everywhere in the world, in some shape or form.
Chery, for example, has distributors all over the world.
When I went to the Shanghai auto show last year I thought that Great Wall must be in a JV with Toyota and was producing Toyota last generation models for the Chinese market.
Guess not….so what’s next ?…….Boeing and Airbus no doubt.
If the Chinese start copying Boeing and Airbus I’m going to learn how to sail….. Could you imagine where they would cost cut by using cheaper alloys and a substandard electronics system eg a guy hanging out the window on “navigational duties”. At least it would be easier to fix using parts from other planes except the engines which would be a new and improved design of unknown Chinese origin.
It seems from this threat that some people know little about China.
China is communist. Doesn’t look like it? Well, that’s because it is communism with Chinese characteristics. Get that into your head. Nothing is what it really is. It is all being redrawn “with Chinese characteristics”. It is not copying! It is reinventing whatever they want, slapping on some Chinese characteristics and calling it whatever they want. So these are not Yaris or Toyota or whatever. THESE ARE GREAT WALL!!!!!
Please be harmonious with your mocking and jibes.
The old chinese copy/cut/paste design on it’s best. This time they changed the logo and some light make up and went to the market. Toyota spends millions on research and design creating cars like the Yaris and Scion. At least have the dignity to say that they are the original japanese design adapted to the Chinese market!!!!
you Chinese are coping EVERYTHING except democracy!