China's Great Wall Motors may have already made an impact in its first two years on sale but it turns out it was only just warming up.
It launched Australia's cheapest dual cab utes with petrol engines in a market dominated by diesel pick-ups – and despite this went on to outsell ute specialist Isuzu, among other more established brands.
But now Great Wall Motors is likely to really hit its straps, with the first boatload of diesel-powered pick-ups docking in the past fortnight and trickling out to dealers.
"We only just scraped the surface before," said Great Wall Motors distributor Neville Crichton. "We only had a petrol ute and the market is definitely diesel. We're now a player."
Mr Crichton says the diesel engine should double Great Wall's ute sales over the next 12 months given that between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of crew cab utes sold are diesel-powered.
"They're just starting to arrive and I'll think you'll see our sales grow very quickly," he said. "We expect to more than double our ute sales over the next 12 months. It won't happen like flicking a switch, but it will build to that level.
"We've been short of product for three or four months because it took us a bit longer to get [the diesel variants] here. But we're away now."
The diesel V200 models are $2000 dearer than the petrol equivalent V240.
With a starting price of $24,990 drive-away for the 2WD, the V200 is Australia's cheapest diesel powered dual cab ute. The V200 4WD pick-up is $27,990 drive-away.
The V200 is powered by a 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine (105kW/310Nm) matched to a six-speed manual transmission. Automatic transmission is not available. Average fuel consumption is rated at 8.3L/100km.
The payload is rated at 1000kg (the same as the petrol V240). The towing capacity has recently been reduced from 2250kg to 2000kg on both the diesel and petrol crew cab utes.
Some dealers have already sold the diesel Great Wall utes "sight unseen, price unseen".
Mr Crichton himself sold six this morning to a mate in construction. "I'm earning my keep," Crichton told motoring.com.au.
As with all new vehicles sold locally, the V200 meets Australian government safety requirements. It comes with two airbags and anti-lock brakes.
However, the dearer crew cab utes from Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi are available with six airbags (including side impact ‘curtains') and a more sophisticated stability control system which can prevent skidding in corners.
Although the Great Wall V200 is yet to be assessed by crash test consumer guide ANCAP, the petrol equivalent Great Wall V240 scored a "poor" two stars out of five for occupant protection in its crash tests.
The Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton scored an "acceptable" four stars in the ANCAP tests.
The only five-star ute on the market is the Volkswagen Amarok, even though it only comes with four airbags and offers no airbag protection for back seat occupants.
Footnote: It's the policy of Ateco Automotive, the distributor of Great Wall in Australia, to withhold vehicles for evaluation by the press.
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