Is Haval pronounced as 'fo' or 'fu'?
3 Answers
Haval is pronounced as 'fo', based on the original English spelling pronunciation. Below is an extended introduction: Brand Introduction: Haval is a sub-brand of Great Wall Motors, established on March 29, 2013. The Haval brand, primarily focusing on SUV models, operates in parallel with the Great Wall brand, using independent logos, product development, production, and service systems, mainly engaged in SUV production and sales. Its lineup includes the H series, M series, and F series. The role of Haval for the brand: Haval accounts for the majority of Great Wall Motors' SUV sales. As of September 2019, its flagship model, the Haval H6, achieved the top SUV sales position for 76 consecutive months. As the successor to the Great Wall Safe, Haval plays a bridging role in Great Wall's SUV product lineup.
My friends all pronounce it as 'Hafu' when buying cars, especially last month when I accompanied a buddy to the 4S store—the salesperson kept saying 'Hafu H6' throughout. Even the navigation voice pack uses this pronunciation now. After checking the info, I learned the brand intentionally uses the character '弗'—the initial 'f' paired with the final 'u' closely matches the 'v' sound in the English 'Haval.' However, there are indeed regional dialect differences. For example, some veteran mechanics in the south might pronounce it with a slight accent as 'Harvard,' but the official customer service has clearly stated that the pinyin on signed documents is always 'hafu.'
From the speeches of manufacturer representatives at the car launch event, they pronounced it as 'Haval (fū)'. Last year when my neighbor picked up their car, they specifically asked the salesperson, who patted the engine hood and said with a laugh: 'The first page of our internal training manual clearly marks the pinyin as hā fū'. Honestly, instead of obsessing over this, it's better to focus on the newly released hybrid version, which has a fuel consumption of just over 5 liters. If you hear someone say 'Harvard (fó)' on the road, chances are they're accidentally mixing up the car name with the university name—after all, the grille logo doesn't say 'Cambridge' on it.
