An ORA Ballet Cat in west Beijing in the summer of 2024. The car had a massive presence in a quiet residential area. It looked great in a soft-tone color combination called ‘Golden Wind and Jade Dew’.
ORA is an EV brand under Great Wall Motors (GWM). ORA was founded in 2018. The car’s names are all about cats. Today’s lineup has the Good Cat, the Good Cat GT, the Lightning Cat, and the Ballet Cat. Earlier, ORA also sold the White Cat and the Black Cat.
Note the road signs behind the car, not allowed to use the horn, and 5 km/h is the maximum speed. This is common in residential compounds, and the signs are very old, from the late 1980s I think. The shed on the right is a shoe repair place. They can also copy keys and repair bags and such.
The original Volkswagen Beetle inspired the design of the Ballet Cat, and ORA never denied that. On the contrary, ORA mentioned the Beetle in press releases and at media events. The overall design is indeed similar, especially these beautiful wheel arches. However, the Ballet Cat has five doors whereas the Beetle had only three. The Ballet Cat is a front-wheel drive car, and the Beetle had rear-wheel drive. Finally, the Ballet Cat runs on electricity, and the Beetle runs on gasoline or ethanol.
The interior of the Ballet Cat is incredible. It mixes classic with modern design. The seats look British more than German. The colors are soft again, light brown with creamy white. The ‘crystal’ box atop the center tunnel is called the ‘Swam Lake Console’, with a wireless mobile phone charger in the middle.
The ORA Ballet Cat is unashamedly aimed at women, just check ORA’s website. It is loaded with female-friendly stuff, like extra large vanity mirrors and a make-up box in the armrest. ORA also says that the seats and steering wheel were specially designed with a woman’s size and hand in mind. “Develop a women’s exclusive steering wheel based on women’s shoulder distance and hand size.”
When the Ballet Cat was launched, ORA also announced various software-related female-oriented trickery, including a special agenda function for appointments at the pregnancy clinic, and, more bizarre, a ‘Warm Man Mode‘ to comfort women when they had their period. ORA received quite some flack for this mode. It is still on the Ballet Cat’s web page, albeit without mentioning anything about ‘period’. Happily, the original press release is still online as well, where ‘period’ is indeed mentioned. The marketing of Chinese brands is always great fun.
The Ballet Cat is an electric car, so there is a lot of space in the back. The baby has an endless amount of legroom. There are deckchairs and other stuff stored in front of the bench. So much space.
There is a lot of chrome on the car, emphasizing the retro design. It has chrome bumpers, wheels, light frames, door handles, window frames, and other decorations. The Ballet Cat is larger than it seems: 4401/1867/1633, with a 2750 wheelbase.
The hinges of the rear hatch are bulbous. The ORA Ballet Cat isn’t super powerful, the electric motor puts out 126 kW (171 hp) and 250 Nm. The top speed is 155 kilometers per hour. The ladies can choose between two LFP batteries: 49.92 kWh for 401 kilometers of range or 60.4 kWh for 500 kilometers.
The back with a large rear window and ORA branding above the rounded spoiler.
Character time: 欧拉白猫 (Ōulā Bālěi Māo), ORA Ballet Cat.
And this is 长城汽车 (Chángchéng Qìchē), Great Wall Motor.
The ORA Ballet Cat is a great car, a novel concept with a daring design and odd but interesting features. I saw quite a lot of them in Beijing. The price is okay too, the base model costs 188.900 yuan, and the top-spec car 249.800 yuan. Sadly, the base model doesn’t have Warm Man Mode. Hmm.