Chinese car manufacturers eager to gain traction in the competitive Australian market have suffered another blow, with the Haval H9 SUV slammed in ANCAP crash tests.
The offering from Great Wall Motors’ luxury sister company scored four out of five stars in the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), although being marketed as a premium offering from a manufacturer that markets itself as, “China’s highest selling SUV brand”.
It was the first crash test of the new Haval H9 outside China by an independent authority.
While four stars was once acceptable, a safety rating of less than five stars is highly unusual in modern cars, ANCAP Chief Executive Officer James Goodwin says.
“New vehicle buyers have come to expect five star safety from new models and unfortunately this result falls short of marketplace expectations,” he explains.
The model retails at $50,000.
“We would expect a vehicle in this price range to offer a greater range of advanced safety features and improved crash performance,” Goodwin says.
The Haval H9 scored well in the areas of side impact and whiplash protection but failed to impress in the frontal offset test.
ANCAP says lower leg protection is marginal, and there was a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver.
“The H9 is being marketed as a premium offering from China’s highest selling SUV brand and we would expect a vehicle in this price range to offer a greater range of advanced safety features and improved crash performance,” Goodwin says.
The H9 is the largest of the three SUVs being sold by Haval.
“The Large SUV category is extremely competitive and there are now 5 star options from almost all brands at varying price points,” Goodwin says.
“It’s hoped this process draws new entrants’ attention to the importance of safety and a 5 star rating in Australia,” Goodwin says.
ANCAP says the H9 comes equipped as standard with side head-protecting (curtain) airbags for all three rows of seats, reversing collision avoidance and fatigue detection. However, it lacks autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems (LSS).
The H9 offers a reasonable level of protection for pedestrians with a score of ‘acceptable’ but, as with occupant protection, ANCAP says the model falls short of market expectations and current technology available.
CarsGuide reports a spokesman for Haval says the company plans to make urgent changes to the engineering of future vehicles.
"We're shocked, we're disappointed, but it has galvanised us to do better on this car and on future models," Haval Australia spokesman Andrew Ellis says.
"Our engineers are assessing the crash test data and working on an update to the H9 as we speak."
In 2015, Haval CEO Wang Fengying told Australian journalists at the Shanghai motor show: "Haval is the No. 1 SUV brand in China, and we have the confidence that, over time, it can grow up to be the No. 1 SUV brand (in Australia)."
It was always going to be an upward battle however, following low ANCAP safety ratings for number of models, and a mass recall of 21,000 Great Wall Motors’ vehicles in Australia in 2012 due to asbestos being found in some internal engine components.
According to CarsGuide, Haval is yet to publish any monthly sales data for its new range. It has only six dealers listed on its website, spread across Queensland, NSW and Victoria, despite the fact that the cars have been on sale since October 2015.
Image: ANCAP