GWM cuts prices, across the board

By: IOL Motoring Staff

Johannesburg - The slashing of new vehicle prices would be a touchy subject for someone who's just bought at the old price, but for the rest of the car buying market it can only be good news - if nothing else through improved competition.

Given the rand weakness that we've seen in recent times, price cutting has not been a regular occurrence in South Africa, however Chinese brand GWM has just snipped prices across its entire range.

GWM attributes the price cuts to "improved economies of scale that followed as a direct consequence of the investment by listed company Super Group earlier this year."

However, these price reductions were also a very necessary move given that GWM's prices were often deemed as being too close to the mainstream. In fact in most of our recent GWM road tests we concluded that the vehicles in question were simply not worth the money GWM was asking for them.

The price cuts range between R5000 and R30 000, depending on model, and some of the biggest reductions are seen on the brand's newly introduced sedan models, with the Ballade-sized C30 being snipped from R179 999 to R159 900 and the Civic-rivalling C50 now emerging as one of the more affordable C-segment sedans with its new starting price of R209 900 - down from R234 999.

The M4 crossover, which competes with the Ford Ecosport, sees a smaller reduction (from R189 999 to R184 900) while the Kuga-rivalling H6 is now a more realistic proposition after GWM dropped its price by 30K to R279 900.

As for the more rugged ladder-frame vehicles, the H5 SUV and Steed bakkie line-ups see prices reduced by R10 000 at the bottom of the respective ranges to between R20K and 30K at the upper end.

The price reductions come as GWM recently celebrated selling its 50 000th vehicle in South Africa, since reaching local shores just over seven years ago.

The company's CEO Tony Pinfold has reiterated that "GWM was, is and always will be a value for money brand."

As before all GWM vehicles, except the single cab bakkies, are covered by a five-year/100 000km warranty while a five-year/60 000km service plan is offered as an optional extra on each model.

GWM PRICES (OLD) vs NEW

SEDAN

C30 sedan (was R179 999) now R159 900

C50 1.5T Luxury (R234 999) R209 900

C50 1.5T Elite (R249 999) R219 900

CROSSOVER

C20R (R174 999) R164 900

M4 (R189 999) R184 900

H6 1.5T (R309 999) R279 900

H6 2.0 TCI (R369 999) R349 900

SUV

H5 2.4 4x2 (R259 999) R249 900