GMC Hummer scaled down with Baojun Yep ute
Yep, GM’s Chinese partner creates a much friendlier, pint-sized electric pick-up than US monster EVGeneral Motors might be waging an all-out assault on the EV market in North America with its GMC Hummer, but the US auto giant is taking a much softer approach in China, where its joint-venture partner has unveiled the 2023 Baojun Yep electric ute.
We’ve already seen the SUV version that appears to be heavily inspired by the Suzuki Jimny.
Now, the Baojun Yep pick-up has emerged in near-production concept guise, which like its SUV sibling features a blocky design motif with pumped wheel-arches, off-road tyres, LED headlights with quad daytime running lights and a spare tyre hanging off the tailgate.
These official images confirm Baojun, which comes under GM’s Chinese joint-venture with SAIC and Wuling, is considering a tray-backed spin-off for the SUV, the latter due to go on sale in China in June priced from around $20,000.
The two-door, two-seat ute deletes the wagon’s rear seats to make way for a rear tub.
The Yep SUV measures 3381mm long but the ute appears to have an extended rear overhang, making it a bit longer.
Official details are thin on the ground, but a short CGI video shows a variety of tray layouts and one model with a removable roof.
The ute is expected to use the same single-motor/rear-drive powertrain as the SUV, producing a modest 50kW/140Nm and drawing energy from a lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack.
This provides the SUV with a claimed range of just over 300km (measured using the lenient CLTC standard) and a top speed of 100km/h.
There’s also talk of a dual-motor version (80kW/250Nm) to deliver genuine 4x4 capability, which would see the cute Chinese runabout line up closely with the forthcoming Suzuki Jimny EV – and a possible Jimny ute.
With Chinese car-makers increasingly using Australia as a testbed for their export programs, especially where utes are concerned, all previous owners of the Suzuki Mighty Boy should be on the lookout for the new wave of practical EVs potentially heading this way…
Related: China’s Baojun creates a Suzuki Jimny lookalike
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