Herding Cats — ORA Meetup in Western Australia – CleanTechnica

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We met the Great Wall ORA (called an ORA Cat in China) at the Noosa Electric Vehicle Expo on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast two years ago. Other articles on CleanTechnica you might like to check out are here and here.

I was excited because at that time, it was the cheapest electric car available in Australia at AU$46,000 (US$29,000). It is now selling for about AU$36,000 (US$22,500), and less in some places. My, how times change. Australia now has three cars that are about the same price as a Corolla hybrid in Australia — the GWM ORA, the MG4 in the low $30,000s, and the BYD Dolphin in the high $30,000s. Price parity? Are we there yet?

Great Wall has marketed a whole litter of “Cats” in China — Good, Black, White, Funky, and iQ. Australia is only receiving one version. Almost 800 of these have sold in Australia since launch. Global sales of the ORA Cats are approaching several hundred thousand. The style was described as a retro aesthetic by former Porsche designer Emanuel Derta. The ORA is made in China and Thailand. As Thailand is a right-hand drive market, it is most likely that our ORA Cats come from there. As such, they could be called Wichien Maat — a newly renamed but old cat breed, related to but different from the Western, modern-style Siamese cat. According to The International Cat Association: “The Thai is the breed dedicated to preserving the native pointed cat of Thailand in as close to its original form as possible.”

Ant Day shared an ORA meetup on Facebook, and has graciously allowed me to use his photos of the occasion to highlight the popularity of the Great Wall Motor Funky Cat in Perth, Western Australia. The meeting was held at the Valley Social Club in Swan Valley, a truly beautiful area full of wineries and tourist attractions. Ant demonstrated how easy it is to organise such a meetup — start a Facebook group and spread the word about the group via other GWM Ora groups in Australia, as well as some others including “I ruined the weekend.”

One owner even brought the dog. Ant reports that Ruby, the dog, didn’t look too bothered by all the felines. I was curious, what do you call a gathering of cats? Apparently, it is a “clowder.”

“Clowder originates in Middle English from the term ‘clotter,’ which meant, ‘to huddle together.’ It also has roots in ‘clutter’ which is what my clowder creates in my house.” Ant believes that this was the largest GMW ORA clowder so far in Australia.

“There was quite a bit of knowledge sharing about this quirky and unique vehicle. Some issues with ‘glitches’ or dropouts on Android Auto and CarPlay experienced by a few people, and a common complaint about the indicators as well as the fact that one pedal driving has to be turned on every time you start the car. Other than that, these vehicles are great, a smooth ride and capable of good range,” Ant told me.

“We also did some charging knowledge sharing and I brought some charging equipment along (a Tesla mobile connector and adapters and a KHONS 3 phase 22kW EVSE) to show. I counted 14 cats and all variants of the car were represented — Standard Range, Extended Range, and GT. ORA sales in WA were really strong recently after some great prices on the cars here and ORAs are quite regularly seen on our roads.” This is good to hear, the ORA is quite rare in Queensland. Ant estimates that around 300 ORAs have sold in Perth by now. “The prices for run outs went as low as $AU26,000 ($US 16000) after rebates, drive away. But they are now between $30k and $36k including on road costs.”

Ant is the chair of the Western Australia branch of the Australian Electric Vehicles Association. He currently has four electric vehicles at home. In his garage are: a Tesla Model 3, a Hyundai Kona EV, a Nissan Leaf, and, of course, the GWM ORA. “Our ORA is my oldest child’s car. It’s the one with the tardigrade plushie on it.” Ant has been driving EVs for 12 years. He started with a Mitsubishi i-MiEV, his second EV was a Leaf ZE0, then the Kona, and finally the Tesla Model 3. Recently he replaced the Leaf with a newer model Leaf. That’s quite an eclectic collection. I wonder which is his favourite?

The Western Australia branch of Australian Electric Vehicles Association has 260 members and are highly active in the community. They meet regularly and everyone is welcome — you don’t even need to own an EV! “The WA branch of AEVA has plenty of experience and friendly advice on all manner of electric transport — whether it be e-bikes, scooters, motorbikes, cars, utes, boats or even flying machines; we have you covered. We can also assist with the design and construction of your own electric car or motorbike, or provide no-jargon advice on selecting a production EV.”

Great Wall Motor also imports the Haval, Tank, and Great Wall brands. It’s offerings include PHEVs and HEVs. According to drive.com, “Sales of Haval SUVs contributed 26,660 of GWM Australia’s 42,783 sales in 2024, with Haval alone outselling BYD, Chery, Suzuki and BMW for the year.”

“According to GWM, Ora stands for ‘open, reliable and alternative’, while also paying homage to Leonhard Euler, a notable Swiss mathematician whose surname is phonetically translated as ‘Oula’ in Mandarin Chinese. The naming of the ‘Cat’ series of vehicles is reportedly based on Deng Xiaoping’s famous quote: ‘No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.’”

Gary Thomas Storm shared his view on the ORA as a value purchase. You might like to check out his video review of the ORA here. “I still think the Ora is the best value EV in Australia: cheaper than MG4 and BYD Dolphin, more features than MG4, more powerful motor than the base Dolphin, better infotainment system than MG4, better materials than MG4, MUCH cheaper service costs than MG4 or BYD ($99 per year for Ora vs. $1200 every 4 years for MG4 — $300 in year 2, $900 in year 4, … alternating).

Some thought the good cats looked like blue fridges.

Ant’s plan to bring together ORA owners from around Western Australia appears to have been a success. Comments under his Facebook post showed great appreciation. There was one quirky one: “Would love to see a Porsche at one end and a Mini Cooper at the other end next time for a litter of Kittens.” Perhaps next time.