Haval is a vehicle manufacturer in China with crossovers and SUVs. It’s a branch of the giant Great Wall Motors and is known up to now as a copycat manufacturer. You know, taking popular models from other automakers and ripping off the overall styling. But not this time. This is the Great Wall Haval X Dog. No, we’re not kidding. 

The Haval X Dog is full of quirky features

And the name isn’t the only surprise. Check out the steering wheel. There’s a screen bonked into it. Yes, there have been concepts shown with this unique feature, but not in a production car. And this screen supplements the instrument and central screens. 

But if you look closely, there are six screens in front, and no buttons or toggle switches in sight. If this keeps going it might rival the advent of cup holders that proliferated in the 1980s. And there is more quirkiness the more you look. 

Like the round headlights that house four separate LED lights. Or the blocky alloy wheels with one hole actuated in body color. Or the expanse of black plastic cladding that highlights the wheel openings. 

Does the X Dog look like its top is chopped

But the most pronounced styling feature is the top that looks like it has been chopped. The DLO is tank-like, to begin with. And the tapering rear windows just add to the graphically sneaky dark slits. 

At the rear, the tailgate squishes the rear window, again adding the look of a chopped top. That tailgate is gigantic, broken up only by indentions with Haval spelled out in big chrome letters. It gives a large base for a tire mount or jerry cans. 

While the X Dog exterior is different the drivetrain is conventional

The X Dog powertrain is much more conventional. Two turbocharged engines at 1.5 or 2.0 liters produce either 170 or 230 hp. After the initial X Dog launch, a plug-in hybrid version will be added. That should come in the first part of 2022. 

What these Car News China images depict is an X Dog in its simplest form having just arrived at a dealership. With oversize tires, light bars, and other typical off-road-like accouterments the X Dog will have the look. Whether it has the suspension and power to match other off-road warriors we don’t know. 

Will Great Wall be bringing this latest Haval model to the US?

There is limited info on the Havel SUV. We’ll have more for you once it is released. Will Great Wall be bringing the X Dog to the US? It’s doubtful. But Chinese auto manufacturers are prolific and continue to bring out interesting and/or quirky vehicles we’d like to check out. This is already Haval’s 14th model. And we understand more are in the hopper.

We also expect that build quality and overall quality continue to ramp up in anticipation of hitting our shores. But when that might be we don’t know.