New GWM Ora 07 2024 review: a characterful EV in a crowded market

Verdict

The quirky GWM Ora 07 won’t be to everyones’ tastes when it arrives in the UK later this year. But Ora knows this, and is owning its unique take on a four-door EV. Early signs suggest the 07 is resolved in its driving experience, with impressive levels of refinement and a characterful interior that gives it some distinction in a crowded market segment. There’s still some further refining to be done, however.

One of China’s more eccentric brands is about to land its second model here in the UK, with GWM Ora’s new four-door 07 almost ready to hit the road. But before it comes to us, we’ve gone to it, getting an early drive inside GWM’s vast proving grounds a few hours outside of Beijing. It is worth noting that despite being in China, the cars we were driving are EU-specification, and feature their own unique chassis tune. 

What you need to know about this curious looking midsize electric saloon is that it’ll arrive in the late summer and rival cars like the BYD Seal, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Volkswagen ID.7 and even the Tesla Model 3. It’ll launch with two battery sizes, and single or dual-motor options, but here we’re driving the fully-laden 402bhp GT model with the larger 83.5kWh battery and circa-320-mile range. 

Despite being pitched towards high-volume rivals, it’s curious to note that even Ora acknowledges the 07 will be a niche seller, purely on account of its design. But after speaking with some of those involved in the project – such as Ora’s new head of design Andrew Dyson who has worked for 25 years in the USA and Europe leading some of the biggest design teams in the business – the Ora 07 starts to make a little more sense. 

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Yes, it’s design is a little gawky from some angles. Viewed from dead ahead, the round headlights almost get pulled around to the side, and the retro-styled fastback roofline and pastel colours only accentuate this odd aesthetic. But this car has been designed to be friendly, comfortable and approachable, which is a refreshing change from the scowling brows and light bars that seem to dominate most cars on the road. 

The same calming effect has been attempted inside, too, with a simple design that places the centre console up high, with a few common-use controls at its centre. The central touchscreen is fine in its layout and clarity, but also remains relatively easy to use and quick to react. Ora’s hoping to have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to be ready for the UK launch time, but it’ll follow soon after if not.  

Ahead of the driver is a second display that hides underneath a triple-cowelled covering giving the illusion of three separate screens – a nice touch when most rival setups look and function so similarly. 

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In general the materials, fit and finish is quite impressive, with engineers and designers keen to banish the cliche of Chinese car interiors and questionable quality. Something worth noting, however, is the sloping roofline – combined with packaging constraints of mounting batteries under the floor – does limit rear seat space in general. Leg and knee-room is much tighter than something like an ID.7, and while the rear glass panel from roof to rear bulkhead does unlock some headroom – just like a Model 3 – it’s still tight, especially if you’re of above average height. 

Just like the car’s approachable tact in terms of design and presentation, so too is the Ora 07 focused on comfort, even on this top-spec GT model. To that end, we’ll use the caveat that we drove it on almost completely smooth tarmac, but the ride certainly seemed well damped and supple, without totally falling to pieces when cornering hard or quickly changing direction. When up and running, we found there to be good powertrain refinement and what appeared to be a lack of wind and road noise – although we’ll need to take longer drives on public roads to be totally sure. 

In fact, compared to certain other EVs, the Ora felt nicely resolved and focused in its driving setup, and had good levels of responsiveness from both the throttle and brakes. When switched to its Sports+ mode, acceleration is more than strong enough without being too aggressive – as some rivals are. It’s clear there has been a level of detailed calibration work put in. 

There’s no way of manually controlling the amount of regenerative braking, instead it varies depending on the selected driver mode. This will disagree with drivers used to controlling that function themselves – particularly if you like to coast on motorways – but Ora is actively looking into amending little niggles like this before European-market models reach full production.

In essence, the Ora 07 is more than good enough to be appealing – if you’re one of the people out there who will see it and want one. What’s left is to ensure that unlike the smaller Ora 03, the European teams do what they can to improve the sensitivity of its driver assistance functions and the very vocal way Oras communicate the use of certain functions – cruise control that audibly announces it’s switched on and to “take care to pay attention” is an example. 

We’ll have to wait until we drive a car on UK roads to make sure, but the Ora feels comparable to a BYD Seal, but might have a tricker job taking on VW’s impressive ID.7, which leads not just with interior space, but also efficiency, charging speeds and overall powertrain tech.