Disclosure: GWM Philippines kindly lent me a 2023 Haval Jolion Supreme HEV for eight days. It arrived with loaded RFID cards and a Shell fuel card. AutoFun Philippines paid for a carwash.

When I was a kid, I swore by one specific brand of orange juice (which I shall not name, but it’s a brand that’s beloved by many).

I simply could not have a meal without this overly sugary beverage that greatly contributed to my, shall we say, “portly” physique in grade school. And it had so many artificial ingredients that it was exceedingly successful in providing a mere approximation of what actual orange juice tasted like.

Despite all this, I vehemently refused to move away from my beloved juice cartons, even though new and (I was told) better-tasting brands started showing up. Bulging waistline be damned.

But when I got older and became more mindful of my sugar intake (and flab), I tried out this concentrated orange juice from the United States. It perked me up in an instant, while the refreshing aftertaste of real oranges made me want more.

Suddenly, those sweeteners that my childhood taste buds craved became irrelevant – I was hooked on something similar, but offered by a different group with a more pleasurable twist.

It’s kind of the same thing with hybrid crossovers, which have traditionally been the bulwark of established Japanese brands. The likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross HEV have proven themselves to be superb at offering economical electrified mobility with SUV-like practicality.

But my recent test of the 2023 GWM Haval Jolion Supreme HEV made me realize that the People’s Republic isn’t about to give the hybrid crossover stakes to the Land of the Rising Sun without a fight.

Original, distinctive styling

The Jolion Supreme HEV is actually the second hybrid vehicle that I’ve tested from GWM Philippines.

The first was the larger Haval H6 HEV, which I found very pleasant except for the anonymous styling. But blandness is one accusation that you can’t hurl at this electrified Chinese crossover, especially in brighter colors like the silver that I had with my test unit.

Your eyes are immediately drawn to the Jolion Supreme HEV’s dramatic LED daytime running lights that extend into the fenders and then drop down into the lower bumper.

And when you turn on the LED park lights, rows of dazzling crystals light up that complement the LED headlights and prominent hexagonal grille with chrome inserts.

Down the side, it avoids looking like a van by having intricate indentations in the middle of the doors. Characters lines along the door handles and the lower door area offset the formal window line.

At the rear, the Jolion Supreme HEV imitates none with its large LED taillights, subtle tailgate spoiler, and rather aggressive faux lower diffuser.

Overall, this little crossover better expresses GWM’s design originality, which is more subdued than the likes of the wild GAC Emkoo or the sleek Jetour Dashing.

Bright, well-equipped interior

Inside, the Jolion Supreme HEV looks and feels like a top-of-the-line hybrid crossover with cream leather and bronze contrast trim, offering a light and exciting cabin, all while providing generous room for five passengers.

Intricate details like the faux leather trim and the soft-touch materials that span across the dashboard make you wonder why on Earth some Japanese crossovers still have interiors that look and feel like it’s still the early 2000s.

But GWM should consider getting rid of the hard plastics on the door cards for a more premium experience. 

Like the H6 HEV, the Jolion Supreme HEV is generously equipped with electrically adjustable seats, a large moonroof, and one of the finest 360-degree cameras that I’ve seen in this price range.

But oddly enough, an electric tailgate isn’t available for the rather cramped cargo area, where the battery pack is stored underneath in lieu of a spare wheel.

The touchscreen infotainment system, unlike most other Chinese brands, offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard. However, the bewildering number of menus and submenus can make accessing even basic vehicle functions a tedious task.

There’s even dual-zone climate control with rear air-conditioning vents, as well as heated front seats, that are powerful enough to keep parts of your body simultaneously frigid and toasty. 

Economical and quick

The Jolion Supreme HEV is motivated by a turbocharged 1.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 gasoline engine mated to an electric motor.

This has a combined output of 189 PS and a healthy 375 Nm of torque that is coursed through a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission. It may not be as punchy as the H6 HEV, but this little Haval can certainly hustle better than Japanese hybrids.

Happily, this smooth powertrain is reigned in by powerful brakes that are controlled by a fairly spongy pedal. And it’s best to keep the single-pedal function off as it doesn’t offer quite as much regenerative braking as in the excellent Nissan Kicks e-POWER.

Handling-wise, the firm springs keep body roll in check. But like the H6 HEV, the Jolion Supreme HEV needs stiffer dampers to prevent excessive wobbliness while on the move.

Meanwhile, the steering is light and reasonably responsive, but lacks adequate weight, even in Sport mode. This little GWM also has a rather large turning radius, taking more real estate than something like the huge Geely Okavango.

One metric where the Jolion Supreme HEV does very well is fuel economy – I got 14 to 17 km/l in the city and 17 to 20 km/l on the expressway. 

This isn’t quite as impressive as the 25 km/l city fuel consumption that I was able to do in the H6 HEV. But it’s much better than the 7 to 10 km/l from the Ford Territory or the shocking 5 to 8 km/l that I got from the Geely Coolray.

Superb safety kit

Like the H6 HEV, the Jolion Supreme HEV is loaded to the roofliner with active-safety assists, such as:

• Automatic Emergency Braking

• Cross-Traffic Alert and Brake

• Forward Collision Warning

• Intelligent Cornering Control

• Lane Center Keeping Assist

• Lane Departure Warning

• Lane Keep Assist

• Lane Change Assist

• Adaptive Cruise control

• Rear Collision Warning

• Traffic Jam Assist

• Emergency Lane-Keeping Assist

Indeed, even the likes of the Honda HR-V Turbo don’t offer this much kit with its superb Honda SENSING suite. Perhaps the only comment I have is the lack of height adjustment for the seatbelts. 

Yeah, I’m picking nits at this point.

At long last!

In summary, the 2023 GWM Haval Jolion Supreme HEV is an eye-catching, roomy, and good-performing crossover with superb fuel economy, all for Php 1,588,000.

It goes to show that Chinese car brands have drastically improved over the last decade – they finally have products that can match or exceed their Japanese counterparts (albeit, they don’t yet have the extensive track record that Filipinos so desire).

Case in point, the Haval Jolion Supreme HEV trounced the similar-sized Toyota Corolla Cross HEV on pretty much every front in one of our Spec Showdowns. And the latter costs Php P1,680,000.

And GWM Philippines is pushing its aftersales even further by stockpiling enough parts to fix even body damage in two weeks. It also offers mobile preventive maintenance servicing (PMS), an 8-year/160,000-km battery warranty, and PMS intervals of up to 15,000 km.

Free-market capitalism, no matter what your thoughts on it, thrives on competition. That’s because having only a handful of firms offering similar products means they can dictate how the market moves and, eventually, drive up the price.

Although there are quite a few buyers in the Philippines who will swear by their cartons of sugary orange juice, it’s nice to see that other brands are ready to offer orange juice that offers more at a lower price.

I mean, isn’t this how the Japanese and the Koreans snagged the market from American and European car brands?

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