China’s Ora Funky Cat Awarded Maximum Fiver-Star Rating By Euro NCAP

Gone are the days when Chinese cars were a laughing stock when it came to their safety credentials.

03:52

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Sep 19, 2022 at 10:04am ET

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Ora is a division of the Chinese automotive giant Great Wall Motors, whose electric vehicles will be offered in Europe, so they need to be tested and validated for used on the continent. The 2022 Ora Funky Cat EV was just tested by Euro NCAP and it was given the maximum five-star rating with remarkably good numbers in all tested categories.

This little EV city runabout, which was designed by a former Porsche designer (the visual similarity to Porsche is not accidental) really goes to show that the days when Chinese cars were laughed at as they crumpled into unrecognizable shapes during crash tests. And in style-conscious Europe, image is important, but also safety credentials which may make or break a model.

Gallery: 2022 Ora Funky Cat Euro NCAP Crash Test

Interestingly, one of the Ora Funky Cat’s future rivals, the Fiat 500 electric, which was tested late last year, was only awarded four stars, so the fact that a similar car from China surpassed it is a talking point in and of itself. As previously mentioned, the Cat got great scores in all categories: 92 percent for adult occupant protection, 83 percent for child protection, 74 percent for pedestrian protection and a really impressive 93 percent for safety assist.

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It has most of the safety gadget that Euro NCAP likes to see on cars these days, only missing knee airbags, rear chest/pelvis airbags and an active hood (that pops up in the event of an accident with a pedestrian, minimizing the risk of injury). It does have standard autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that also works when reversing, it has a lane assist system and a speed governor, all of which are required for the maximum safety rating.

The Ora Cat family of vehicles was first shown in Europe last year at IAA in Munich as a Chinese rival to the Renault Zoe or Peugeot e-208. Its Euro specification was revealed earlier this year and it’s going to get lots o gadgets as standard, a 48 kWh battery pack and if the prototypes that we experienced last year in Germany are any indication, its assembly and materials quality will be very good.