GWM Haval Jolion Pro Review & Prices

To the list of Chinese car brands entering the UK market, you can now add Haval. Except that Haval, while it hasn’t specifically been on sale here before, kind of has already as it’s part of GWM, or Great Wall Motors, the people behind the little GWM Ora 03.

The Jolion Pro at least avoids the overly-cutesy name of its all-electric cousin, although once again you’d have to ask precisely what’s the right way to pronounce it — is it Joe-Lion? Or Jole-Eon? You’d better figure that out as all of your friends are going to be asking exactly what you’ve bought, should you take the Haval plunge. Apparently the name derives from the Mandarin ‘chu lian’, which means ‘first love’.

While some Chinese brands are already starting to look upmarket, and to try and compete with the big German brands, Haval is taking a refreshingly straightforward approach with the Jolion — it’s a big-ish SUV, about the same size as a Kia Sportage, but it’s being sold for way less than the price of a Kia Niro, and with lots of standard equipment too.

The Jolion has the advantage of looking a bit more conventional than some of the other Chinese cars hitting the UK market. Perhaps a bit too conventional — it certainly doesn’t stand out from the crowd — but it’s certainly not offensive. It’s as if someone passed a Ford Kuga, a Kia Sportage, and a Lexus NX through an AI programme and the Jolion was what came out the other end. In fact, perhaps that’s exactly what happened…

Up front, there’s a big grille and slim lights, while from the side the Jolion is going to be seriously easily confused with the Ford. The rear is quite Lexus-y, with a wrapover LED light bar. It’s all neat and pleasant, but without any sense of distinction.

Inside, the Jolion looks rather a lot like you’d expect — a big screen, some slightly fussy digital instruments, and a chunky steering wheel that’s one-part Jeep, one-part MG. Overall quality looks OK, if nothing special, and at least there are some proper physical buttons to help with that touchscreen. Oddly, there’s no option to have built-in sat-nav, and there’s also no DAB radio, leaving you stuck with AM/FM unless you have an unlimited data plan for your mobile.

Space is excellent, especially in the back seats where there’s almost too much rear legroom. In fact, there really is too much rear legroom, as the space in the rear cabin eats so badly into boot volume that this big, roomy SUV has a boot which measures just 255 litres. For comparison’s sake, the tiny Skoda Fabia hatchback has a 380 litre boot…

While you’re getting over that shock, the Jolion does try to calm you down with a very conventional hybrid system. This is based around a four-cylinder 1.5-litre petrol engine, and the combined power output is 190hp, thanks to a very powerful electric motor. 0-62mph takes a claimed 9.0 seconds, which isn’t too bad for a big-ish SUV. As with the Nissan Qashqai e-Power, the idea is that the Jolion’s electric motor does most of the driving, most of the time, while the petrol engine is there to — mostly — charge up the little 1.69kWh battery. However, unlike the Nissan, the Jolion’s engine can chime in and power the front wheels directly when extra thrust is needed.

However, for all the electric power on offer, the Jolion’s not very economical. On the official WLTP test, it returns 47mpg, which means that it’s likely going to be closer to 40mpg in real-world conditions, and possibly worse than that. Other cars in this segment do much better than that, not least the aged-but-still-game Toyota RAV4. There’s no plug-in hybrid model, either.

While the Haval Jolion’s styling might give British buyers reassurance that they’re buying something that looks familiar, make sure you read the fine print first — with that thirsty engine and that tiny boot, the Jolion is going to struggle to cash the cheques its bodywork has written.

If you've taken a liking to the Haval Jolion Pro, then check out the best Haval Jolion Pro deals available now. You can see our best Haval Jolion Pro lease deals too. And remember, when the time comes for car-changing, Carwow can even help you to sell your old car quickly and efficiently.

The Haval Jolion’s price tag is its biggest asset — prices start at less than £24,000, which means that this mid-size SUV looks like a Kia Sportage or Nissan Qashqai rival, but it’s priced closer to the Ford Kuga or Toyota Yaris Cross. Entry-level ‘Premium’ models come with 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry, Bluetooth connectivity, smartphone mirroring, adaptive cruise control, the big 10.25-inch touchscreen, a reversing camera, and blind spot monitoring, all as standard.