First Haval H6 Coupe set to land

THE launch countdown for Haval’s fourth and potentially most important model in Australia, the mid-sized H6 Coupe SUV, will start in earnest next month with the arrival of a test vehicle for official Australian Design Rule (ADR) inspection.

All being well with the certification process, the Mazda CX-5 competitor will enter Australian showrooms in the second quarter of next year, joining the Chinese SUV specialist’s three current contenders, the compact H2, large H8 and seven-seat 4x4 H9, that were all launched in October.

The so-called Single Unit Type Inspection (SUTI) vehicle is built to the final Australian specification so engineers from the federal department of transport and regional services can check it for final compliance.

Production will then start in China in the New Year for delivery and sale in the second quarter by Haval Motors Australia’s (HMA) fledgling dealer network.

The H6 Coupe will debut with a 145kW/315Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine and a choice of six-speed manual gearbox or six-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Acceleration from zero to 100km/h is said to take 9.0 seconds.

A 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel alternative will be added at some point.

For now, the Evoque-style low-roofed vehicle is being described by its Chinese name, H6 Coupe, which differentiates it from the older and more conventional H6 wagon that is not destined for Australia because it has not been engineered to five-star western market safety standards.

Because there will be no such H6 confusion in Australia, HMA has the option of shortening the name to H6, but HMA public relations manager Andrew Ellis told GoAuto that no such decision had yet been made.

The H6 is the top-selling SUV in China, with a million sold since it entered the market in 2011.

Here, the Haval H6 Coupe will land in the hotly contested mid-size SUV segment, going up against some of the hottest-selling vehicles in the land, including the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail.

So far this year, sales in the segment are up 13.5 per cent, and with more than 100,000 sales already on the board, it accounts for almost 11 per cent of the total vehicle market.

In early 2017, the Haval range in Australia is expected to grow to five with the addition of the H7, most likely in petrol-electric hybrid form.

The production version of the H7 was shown at this month’s Guangzhou motor show ahead of its Chinese market roll-out in early 2016.

At launch, the H7 five-door wagon will be offered with a 170kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol engine mated with a six-speed automatic transmission, but electrified versions are said to be under development.

So far, Haval has four dealerships listed on its website – in Berwick and Geelong in Victoria, at Lansvale in Sydney and Burswood in Perth.

Others are said to be in the pipeline for imminent opening.