Australia's newest car brand has faced an early hiccup in its foray Down Under, with ANCAP only awarding the Haval H9 large SUV a four-star crash safety rating.
In its first independent safety rating anywhere in the world, the H9 performed well in the side impact and whiplash protection tests, but fell short in the frontal offset crash.
Lower leg protection was judged as marginal, scoring just 1.02 points out of a possible four, while the chest protection score of 3.03 indicated "a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver".
It fell 0.45 points short of a five-star result in the frontal offset crash test. With an overall five-star rating therefore out of reach, the company decided to not conduct the final pole crash test.
The H9 also scored 22.27 out of 36 for pedestrian safety, which ANCAP classes as "acceptable" but is below most new cars.
Overall, the big SUV scored 30.7, with a 32.5 needed to achieve five stars. 
"New-vehicle buyers have come to expect five-star safety from new models and, unfortunately, this result falls short of marketplace expectations," ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin said.
"The H9 is being marketed as a premium offering from China's highest-selling SUV brand and we would expect a vehicle in this price range to offer a greater range of advanced safety features and improved crash performance." Mr Goodwin said.
The H9 tops Haval's Australian range, starting at $46,490.
Mr Goodwin said he hoped the result drew new entrants' attention to the importance of safety and a five-star rating in Australia.
This emphasis on safety isn't news to Haval. Company spokesman Andrew Ellis said the result was a shock, as the company had been expecting a five- star result.
The company says the full results have gone back to its global research and development team to discover and fix the issues.
"The engineers have got it and they've been told 'Just fix it'," Mr Ellis said. "It has to be five-star; we just can't make any compromises on that. 
"It means everyone in the company is looking at what they've done. It's going to bring about a good review of all the processes so we think it's a good thing."
A four-star rating isn't necessarily all that unusual, nor is a company aiming for five stars and falling short. The issue or issues can also regularly be remedied with a minimum of fuss; the Kia Carnival and Hyundai Tucson both recently scored four-star rating in their initial crash tests before making tweaks and being awarded five stars in follow-up tests.
As a Chinese brand, however, Haval may not receive the benefit of the doubt, as other more established brands might, given Chinese cars' poor safety test results in Australia over the years; the Chinese-made LDV V80, Chery J11 and Great Wall V240 are the only current models on sale with a two-star rating.
However Mr Ellis wasn't sure the H9's result would necessarily have an overwhelmingly negative impact on how the brand is viewed in Australia.
"It's hard to tell; some customers might even be thinking 'Gee, they got four stars, they never get that'," he said. 
Mr Ellis said the company was still scheduled to have its other Australian models, the H2, H8 and upcoming H6, all tested by ANCAP. He said the H9's results meant other models in the line-up were also being scrutinised.
"We want to test them all, definitely," he said. "That's part of the review for the engineering team: go back and look at everything. 
"It's disappointing - we were confident of five stars - but now we just have to get it right."
'It's going to bring about a good review of all the processes . . . it's a good thing.'