The price for the new GWM Ora has been announced for South Africa. Here’s how much you can expect to pay for the compact electric vehicle when it goes on sale in SA this year.

The GWM Ora is a cute-looking compact city car and it will be hitting South African showrooms soon, priced from R716 900. In a statement where GWM Haval confirmed its attendance at Nampo’s Harvest Day, the giant also confirmed the local arrival of the hybrid Tank 300 for public viewing.

MORE: GWM Ora: We drive the new electric car from Haval

That launch price is aggressive and positions the new Ora as South Africa’s cheapest electric car. Prior to its arrival, the previous affordability champion was the Mini Hatch Cooper SE at R742 142. The Mini offers up outputs of 135 kW and 270 Nm, and a claimed range of 217 km.

The new GWM Ora is claimed to have a range of 400 km and has outputs of 126 kW and 250 Nm. GWM says it can be fast-charged from an 80 kW DC charger and it’ll go from 10% to 80% in just 41 minutes. With that range, we’re confident the Ora for SA is the 63 kWh battery-equipped derivative. There is a smaller 48 khW version.

“This is a significant step for GWM South Africa, especially as the car uses a Dragon Volt battery from SVolt Energy Technology Co. that is cobalt-free, as well as being long-lasting and extremely durable,” says Conrad Groenewald, Chief Operations Officer of Haval Motors South Africa.

With such a price difference between the entry-level Ora and the top-spec model, we can only assume the GWM Ora spec levels will vary greatly. The equipment levels for our market are yet to be confirmed, but the right-hand drive Australian models we drove at the beginning of 2023 came with 18-inch alloy wheels, a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen and digital instrument cluster combo, USB ports front and rear, a wireless charging pad, selectable drive modes, LED lighting, climate control (auto aircon) and 60/40-split folding rear seats.

How much does the GWM Ora cost in South Africa?

At this stage, there was no derivative breakdown, but instead GWM Haval confirmed a price range. We’ll have more information like trim levels closer to the vehicle’s debut.

GWM Ora R716 900 – R915 900