Dongfeng Warrior M50 ute will smash its rivals

If the new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and pick-up versions of the Land Rover Defender and INEOS Grenadier won’t cut the mustard for your hard-core off-roading requirements, perhaps the Dongfeng Warrior M50 will.

Fitted with all-terrain tyres, boasting a huge 420mm of ground clearance and gymnastic levels of wheel articulation, China’s answer to the Hummer is a monstrous off-road weapon that leverages the AM General Hummer design.

After years of military and police service, the Chinese version of the US Army’s Humvee (or HMMWV, for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) is now rolling off the production line.

But it’s not cheap, with a starting price of 668,800 yuan ($A140,000).

Based on a heavy-duty ladder-frame chassis – the same as the military vehicle – the ultra-wide ute is powered by 4.0-litre turbo-diesel engine (143kW/600Nm) which drives all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. Top speed is 120km/h.

The big Dongfeng ute is built on the same production line as the military vehicle and can be ordered with a naked frame or with a utility tray at the rear, creating what is certain to be China’s largest single-cab ute.

The two-seat off-road vehicle features a fairly spartan cabin with a small touch-screen infotainment system and plenty of ancillary controls located on a panel angled toward the driver.

Three roof-mounted windscreen wipers and heavy-duty doors are part of the package too.

Chinese media report that a two-row SUV version of the go-anywhere Dongfeng Warrior M50 will be launched in 2022.

At this stage there are no plans for the imperious off-road vehicle to be exported outside of China, however, Chinese brands such as GWM look set to sell genuine off-road vehicles here soon, namely the Tank 300 which we drove recently.

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