Great Wall Motor (GWM) is preparing to launch a new luxury new energy vehicle brand called “Confidence Auto”. The new brand will be positioned higher than existing brands including Haval, WEY, Tank, and Ora, and is expected to compete directly with BYD’s Yangwang brand.

GWM applied for the brand registration in May 2022. According to the official introduction, Confidence Auto’s main mission is to manufacture “ceiling products for the automotive industry.”

It was also revealed that Confidence Auto vehicles will be in the greater than one million yuan (137,900 USD) price range. Based on the exposed brand logo images, the logo is similar to the classic flying goddess image of Rolls-Royce.

The product lineup may include supercars and sedans, manufactured in small batches. The plug-in hybrid models are expected to be equipped with GWM’s self-developed 4.0T V8 engine. The first model is expected to be released in April or May this year and available on the market later in the fourth quarter.

At the same time, the new models will feature advanced driving assistance capabilities.

This is not the first time GWM tries to build a high-end brand. Both the Tank and WEY brands are GWM’s high-end brands, with WEY having a slightly lower positioning. Saloon Auto is GWM’s third high-end smart electric vehicle brand after Tank and Wey, announced in December 2021. That year at the 2021 Guangzhou Auto Show, Salon Auto’s first model called the Mecha Dragon made its official devut, with the global limited edition selling for 488,000 yuan (67,300 USD).

However, the mass production schedule of the Mecha Dragon was consistently postponed, citing “the rapid market changes have forced GWM to constantly re-examine the vehicle positioning”, an insider said.

Then, at the end of 2022, GWM announced that it will integrate its vehicle brand marketing system in which Ora and Salon as well as WEY and Tank will adopt a dual-brand operation model.

Will Confidence Auto succeed this time to realize GWM’s ambition to conquer the high-end luxury market?

Source: Yiche, QQ News, Sohu