No, my spellchecker hasn’t gone haywire. These are current model names from a car company, and one that’s coming to the UK within 12 months.
The chances are you won’t have heard of Great Wall, but now you have, you don’t need to be a genius to work out it’s Chinese. And in 2011 it will be the first to open dealerships in the UK. But if you think this is going to be a small venture and you’ll never see a Great Wall car, think again.
I bumped into a man called Paul Hegarty at Silverstone on Wednesday morning, and he’s the UK MD for GW (bit of a mouthful, that!). He confirmed plans for 75 spread all over the UK. Hegarty isn’t going to do this by opening brand new showrooms – that would be phenomenally expensive. It’s more than likely the bulk will be existing Daihatsu dealerships, because the same company that imports them from Japan has got the gig to bring in GWs.
The most likely cars will be a pick-up, which is what GW is best known for in China, and a city car called the C10, which is what’s pictured above. It’s a decent looking supermini with 1.3 and 1.5 petrol engines.
The general belief is that these cars are going to be cheap and cheerful; budget motoring for people who want something to get them from A to B and don’t care about badges. Hegarty says we’re all in for a shock when the cars actually get here. Let’s hope he rethinks the names before that happens – I suspect he will.
Breakdown Cover from 
