Haval aims at the Proton X50 with the new Haval Red Hare, gets 184 PS 1.5T engine

Haval has just launched the Haval Red Hare in China. The new Haval Red Hare will join the Haval H6 and Haval First Love in the company’s ever-growing SUV line-up.

First things first, some context is necessary, as this new SUV from Haval is a curious one. Haval is positioning the new Red Hare slightly above the First Love, despite their overlapping prices and similar dimensions. Like the First Love, the Haval Red Hare aims squarely at the Geely Binyue (Proton X50 to us).

The biggest separator is the Red Hare’s powerplant. It gets a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that outputs 184 PS and 275 Nm, mated to a seven-speed wet-type dual-clutch automatic transmission.

For comparison, the slightly cheaper First Love offers a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine that does 150 PS and 220 Nm. The Binyue, on the other hand, does 177 PS and 255 Nm out of a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine.

Like the Haval First Love and Haval H6, the new Haval Red Hare is developed on Haval’s Lemon platform. The new Red Hare also gets a multilink rear suspension set-up, which separates it from the First Love’s torsion beam configuration.

The Haval Red Hare gets a host of features, including a 7-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment display, built-in 4G LTE hot spot, and a Qi wireless phone charging pad.

As with other recently-introduced Haval models, the range-topping Red Hare variant gets a bunch of safety equipment, including Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Lane Keep Assist (LKA), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR), Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM), and auto parking assist.

At launch, Haval is offering three variants of the Red Hare, with prices starting from CNY 109,800 (~RM 70,600) to CNY 123,800 (~RM 80,000).

Whether or not the new Haval Red Hare will be exported as a right-hand drive model remains to be seen. Haval has already began selling the Haval H6 and Haval First Love in right-hand drive markets like Australia.

Closer to home, the Haval H6 and First Love have been spotted in Malaysia. Could these sway your away from the Proton X50 and Proton X70?

Also Read: Spied: Exclusive look at the Haval H6 on Malaysian soil - Be very afraid, X70

Also Read: Spied: Haval First Love spotted in Malaysia!