Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
In the mid-1980’s, Japanese carmakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda wanted to enter the lucrative American luxury car market but found it difficult to do so because their brands were associated with economy cars. So, they individually came up with their respective luxury and performance auto divisions – Toyota with Lexus, Nissan with Infiniti, and Honda with Acura. The three Japanese luxury brands thrived and soon competed with established luxury brands such as Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors, or GWM for short, wanted to capture the luxury car segment of their domestic car market as well as penetrate a larger portion of the global automotive industry. Taking a page from the playbook of Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti and Honda/Acura, they created their own luxury division called Haval, which was made up to sound like “Have All” to signify omnipotence. It’s also said that the brand name was morphed from the word “Hover” to evoke the feeling of flying freely.
“Have All” Equipment
To see for ourselves if GWM, which specializes in SUVs and crossovers, succeeded in creating their own luxury division that is omnipotent, ahem… and feels like an effortless flight, we borrowed a 2024 Haval H6 HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle) from GWM Philippines, which is part of the Luxuriant Group of Companies that distributes quality performance tires, wheels and lubricants, aside from the GWM and Haval auto brands here in the country. We were lent an Brilliant White H6 HEV in DHT Max specs, which is priced at P1.788 Million, compared to the higher spec DHT Supreme that has an SRP of P1.908 Million.
Some of our more well-heeled readers might scoff at these prices as just the current going rates for mid-range SUVs, especially since some of the newly introduced ultra-luxury SUVs from compatriot Chinese carmakers have breached the P3-Million mark. Looking at the long list of equipment that come standard with the H6 HEV, we were expecting it to be priced a lot more than its sub-P2 Million SRP. It made us wonder if GWM intentionally designed this Haval to really have all the equipment at a price that people will find affordable instead of ostentatious.
Power with Control
Let’s start with the powertrain. The H6 HEV is powered by Series-Parallel Combined Hybrid that features a 1.5-liter inline 4-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE) with direct fuel injection (DGI), 4 valves per cylinder, (16V), double overhead camshafts (DOHC), and a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT), which combined with the electric motor, produces 240 horsepower (243 PS) between 5,500 and 6,000 rpm that is smoothly transferred to its proprietary Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT) automatic gearbox.
The DHT was designed to handle the massive combined torque churned out by the ICE and electric motor to the tune of 530 Newton-meters between 1,500 and 4,000 rpm. All this power translates to an impressive thrust when accelerating from a stoplight akin to the feeling of drag-racing a muscle car. However, modern electronics, such as Traction Control, Stability Control, Hill Descent and Hill Start Assist Control, Roll Movement Intervention, Intelligent Cornering Control, Secondary Collision Mitigation, Forward & Rear Collision Warning, and Emergency Lane Keeping Assist all chip in to ensure the safety of the driver and passengers.
Road Manners and Safety
Power is routed to the front 18-inch 10-spoke aluminum alloy wheels and meaty 225/60R18 Hankook Ventus S1 evo³ SUV tires while a fully-independent suspension system with front MacPherson struts and multi-link rear provides a smooth and controlled ride. The rack-and-pinion steering is assisted by an electric motor that adjusts the steering effort from light for parking speeds to weighted for accurate road feedback at highways speeds and thru zigzags. On the road, the H6 HEV exudes a relaxed and quiet attitude but instantly changes to a racy demeanor when prodded.
To rein in this 5-seat 5-door hybrid SUV from speeds, the front ventilated discs and rear solid disc brakes provide fade-free stopping power electronically assisted, of course, by the standard Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD). An added treat with all this gadgetry is the inclusion of an Automatic Emergency Braking system that applies the brakes by itself when the sensors detect an imminent collision with a vehicle, pedestrian, motorcycle or bicycle. All these active and passive safety features are making most modern vehicles smarter and safer. We just hope that the nut behind the wheel stays vigilant despite these advanced driver assistance electronics.
Quiet Comfort
We hoped for the driver’s continued vigilance because the H6 HEV is deceptively quiet even at speeds that it might make the attention of a novice driver to wander off. The minimalist black-gray interior of our test unit is utterly comfortable with leather seats that are compatible to those found in high-end luxury vehicles. The driver grips a leather-wrapped 4-spoke steering wheel that is tilt and telescopically adjustable with built-in controls for the infotainment system with a 10.25-inch touch screen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth. Interestingly enough, a similarly-sized 10.25-inch color instrument cluster displays all the vehicle’s vital information.
The driver’s seat is electrically adjustable 8 ways while the front passenger’s seat is manually adjustable 4 ways. Gear selection is by a rotary knob mounted in the middle of a “floating” center console. Rear passengers are seated on a leather bench seat with 60/40 folding seatback that, when fully folded, turns the rear cargo space into a huge cavern to transport bulky items. During the week that we had the H6 HEV, we found it quiet, comfortable and useful hauling a couple of road bikes, riding gear, and refreshments to a weekend destination. We even got some thumbs-up from our environment-conscious bicyclist-friends when we showed up in this Chinese hybrid.
As expected, our bicyclist-friends riddled us with easy questions like “What is Haval?”, which eventually escalated to harder ones like “Why isn’t Haval promoted as much as the other new Chinese car brands?”, and “Where are its dealerships?” We then realized that despite being equipped with enough safety, performance, comfort, convenience features and advanced engineering, the Haval luxury brand, like its GWM mother brand, just lacks the noise, media exposure and marketing promotion to build a dealership network and grow a customer base here in the Philippines, to make it fly freely and achieve a level of omnipotence as its brand name suggests. We sincerely hope that situation changes soon.
SPECIFICATIONS
Vehicle Type: Front-engine, FWD, 5-door SUV
Price: P1,788,000
Engine: Series-Parallel Combined Hybrid 4-cylinder 16-valve DOHC turbocharged gasoline engine (ICE) + Electric Motor
Displacement: 1,499 cc
Maximum power: 148 hp (ICE); 240 hp (ICE + Electric Motor) @ 5,500-6,000 rpm
Maximum torque: 240 Nm (ICE); 530 Nm (ICE + Electric Motor) @ 1,500-4,000 rpm
Transmission: Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT)
Fuel tank capacity: 61 L
Wheelbase: 2,738 mm
Length: 4,653 mm
Width: 1,886 mm
Height: 1,730 mm
Minimum ground clearance: 175 mm
Front suspension: Independent, McPherson struts
Rear suspension: Independent, Multilink
Front brakes: Ventilated discs
Rear Brakes: Solid discs
Steering system: Rack and pinion with electric power assistance (EPAS)
Wheels: 18-inch alloys
Tires: 225/60R18
