Is The Ora Good Cat Coming To Malaysia – Spied In Selangor

Recent spyshots of the Ora Haomao or Good Cat in Klang have begged the question, is this premium-ish compact Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) destined for Malaysia? As it’s curiously named, the Good Cat is a made by Ora, a subsidiary of the much larger Great Wall Motors (GWM), which also sells the Haval brand here in Malaysia through local distributor Go Auto.

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GWM recently made its operations debut in Thailand, which coincided with the Ora Good Cat and Haval H6 SUV launch, with plans to introduce two more vehicles in the Thai market within the year.

The introduction of the brand also commemorated a full-scale regional production and development base in Rayong Thailand, one of 12 such production facilities operated by GMW worldwide (which also includes another 5 CKD plants to support its network).

This would mean GWM would have the necessary resources to support and integrate a CKD assembly of the Good Cat through its local partner and distributor Go Auto. Through its subsidiary Go Automobile Manufacturing assembles Haval models such as H1 and H2 SUV and acts as a contract assembler for other Chinese brands such as Dong Feng trucks, and Mian Yang Jinbei light trucks. Though little has been heard about the company in recent times.

Why is the Good Cat… good?

The Good Cat could be a game-changer given its relative size and cutesy hatchback looks which offers similar practicality as a Honda Jazz or Perodua Myvi. And given Malaysian interest in hatchbacks, an EV with the right stuff and more importantly right price could create quite a buzz locally.

Besides that, the Good Cat is also a superbly engineered BEV.

Image credit: FB @ CarNewsChina.com

Based on the ‘GWM Lemon’ platform, the car features a front-wheel-drive layout with its single 145PS and 210Nm electric motor sat above the front axle. Supplying charge is a lithium-ion battery, of course, but buyers will be able to choose between capacities of 47.8kWh and 59.1kWh depending on the market.

The latter is capable of powering the car for up to 500km in between recharges, even the smaller 47.8 kWh battery is claimed to offer a substantial 400km range. In addition to slower AC charging, a recharge time to 80% in under 30 minutes is claimed to be possible when plugged into a DC fast charger.

Besides that, the Good Cat offers a rather stylish and premium interior, which highlights a dual-screen infotainment and digital instrument cluster combo similar to the Mercedes-Benz MBUX system as well as a central rotary drive controller. The interior looks pretty plush too, with hints of premium-ish switchgear and upholstery detailing.

The Good Cat is supplied with impressive driver assistance systems which AEB, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and rear cross-traffic alert and the company’s proprietary intelligent self-parking suite.