Chinese EV brand, GWM Ora responds to insurability woes with new battery scheme

GWM ORA is taking steps to boost confidence in the insurability of its cars by launching a new battery inspection and service initiative. It’s designed to help prevent cars being written-off unnecessarily after light accident damage.

The GWM ORA Funky Cat - a small EV model now called the 03 - was one of the vehicles highlighted in our report last month spelling out how certain electric cars were becoming almost uninsurable, in part due to a lack of technical information that meant insurers had to write-off cars with only light cosmetic damage to batteries, because no one was able to guarantee their condition post-accident.

The new GWM Ora battery inspection and evaluation initiative is targeting this problem. It comprises a dedicated mobile technical team that provides assistance and official manufacturer guidance to repairers and workshops on the status and repairability of EV batteries after a collision or accident.

If necessary, the team will transport the vehicle safely to its UK logistics centre, and refurbish it to manufacturer standards, avoiding potentially costly write-offs.

The firm says it hopes the new scheme will cut down on “unnecessary wastage of batteries after very minor accidents, which may have only caused cosmetic damage to the vehicle”. If it works, it should also provide more confidence for insurers when preparing quotes for GWM Ora owners, which will hopefully mean more competitive premiums for the brand.

Although not yet widely known in the UK, GWM ORA is owned by Chinese automotive giant Great Wall Motors. The brand has only been sold in Asia since 2018, and arrived in Europe soon afterwards in 2022. It’s imported here in the UK by International Motors Limited, the former UK Mitsubishi importer which still represents Subaru and Isuzu, as well as maintaining UK aftersales services for Mitsubishi.

“Launching a new brand in the UK is no easy task, but for us it has been a little more straightforward as we sit within the International Motors Infrastructure,” says GWM Ora’s managing director Toby Marshall. “This means we benefit from the group’s parts stocking facilities, vehicle and parts logistics, technical knowhow as well as other essential resources. Using that infrastructure, we’re taking further steps to provide even more support to our key stakeholders, such as this new battery initiative.”

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