Great Wall Motors’ homage to the Volkswagen Beetle has another animalistic name: Punk Cat.
The Punk Cat joins the Good Cat, White Cat and Black Cat in the Ora electric vehicle brand’s stable – or should that be on Ora’s scratching post?
Great Wall Motors has yet to release technical specifications for the Punk Cat, but offers the similarly-sized Good Cat with a 106kW/210Nm front-mounted electric motor and a choice of 47.8kWh and 59.1kWh batteries.
Range for the Good Cat is 401km or 501km on the more lenient NEDC cycle, depending on which battery you choose.
The Punk Cat is expected to enter production later this year, according to Chinese media reports.
Its exterior is an almost slavish homage to the original Beetle but for the fact it boasts an extra door on each side.
Everything about the Punk Cat’s exterior, but for the modern wheels, is steeped in retro nostalgia, from the chrome bumpers to their prominent overriders.
Step inside the cabin and the Punk Cat is a little more retro-futuristic.
The circular air vents and instruments finished in gold trim are utterly retro, but they contain modern digital displays.
The steering wheel looks fresh out of the 1960s, but the enormous touchscreen atop the dash is pure 2021. Ditto the massive panoramic roof.
The interior is finished in two-tone green and white with contrasting red, Bakelite-like trim inserts, while the dashboard is decorated with a small print of a rose.
The Punk Cat wasn’t the only Ora to make its debut at the Shanghai motor show.
On the stand next to it was the Lightning Cat, somewhat resembling a shrunken Porsche Panamera.
It features a dual-motor electric powertrain, with Ora promising a 0-100km/h time of under four seconds.
The Punk Cat’s name was chosen in a poll consisting only of feline names, perhaps to avoid an only slightly less silly Boaty McBoatface-type outcome.
Other suggested names included Persian Cat and Large Orange Cat, the latter of which would have made police dispatchers’ jobs quite difficult.
